The Concept of the Human Soul

according to

Saint Augustine

DISSERTATION

Submitted to the Faculty of Philosophy of the Catholic University

of America in Partial Fulfillment af the Requirements for

the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

BY
REV. WILLIAM P. O'CONNOR, A. B.

Archdiocese of Milwaukee
1921

JAN - 8 1944

PREFACE.

The aim of this dissertation is to present and explain
the concept of the human soul as it is found in the writ-
ings of Saint Augustine.

The soul of man was for Saint Augustine an object of
life-long study and investigation., He was not particu-
larly concerned about tfie soul as such, the plant soul, or
the irrational soul of the brute, except insofar as a study
of these might serve to throw some light on the nature
and activities of the human soul. His interest in the
soul of man was not actuated by mere curiosity to know
for the sake of knowing, but he sought to know the
human soul as a means whereby he might arrive at a
clearer and better understanding of the Supreme Being.

The concept of the human soul as it appears in the
writings of Saint Augustine is not set forth in a sys-
tematic manner, but the elements that enter into its
make-up are found widely scattered through his various
philosophical, apologetical, polemical, exegetical, and dog-
matical works. He wrote a few special treatises on the
human soul, but he never attempted to construct an
organized philosophy of the soul.

The present thesis proposes to collect and coordinate
the philosophical fragments of Saint Augustine's doc-
trine of the human soul and to interpret these in the light
of his mental progress. There is a tendency on the part
of some commentators to over-emphasize the Platonic
character of Augustine's doctrine of the human soul. It
is true that those works which were published during
the first few years of his career manifest the strong in-
fluence of his recent study of Neo-Platonism. The trea-
tises, however, which belong to that period when he was
Bishop of Hippo and one of the most renowned scholars
of his day stamp him unquestionably as a Christian
philospoher. It is indispensable to the correct under-
standing of Augustine's concept of the human soul that
due regard be paid to the development which charac-
terizes his doctrine.

PREFACE

No apology seems necessary for a piece of work such
as is presented here when one considers the unique posi-
tion held by Saint Augustine in the world of Christian
thought. He was under Providence the instrument by
which the philosophical riches of the past were trans-
mitted to the new world which rose upon the ruins of
the Roman Empire. Through him the Christian Schools
of the Middle Ages were to meet the great minds of
Pagan antiquity and to learn what they had achieved in
the field of philosophical endeavors. The debt of Scholas-
ticism to the Bishop of Hippo not only in Theology but
also in Philosophy is inestimable. His influence on the
entire trend of Christian philosophic thought since his
day has been tremendous. Any effort, therefore, to re-
direct attention to the work of a great scholar and thinker
like Saint Augustine, any contribution, however meager
it may be, to the better understanding of his doctrine,
deserves the consideration at least of all those who are
interested in the promotion of what is best in the history
of human achievement.

CONTENTS.

Introduction, The Life of Saint Augustine 7

Chapter

I. Sources 10

II. His Notion of Philosophy 21

III. The Existence and Nature of the Human Soul . . 33

IV. The Human Soul is Incorporeal 48

V. The Immortality of the Human Soul 57

VI. The Origin of the Human Soul 67

.02.

INTRODUCTION 7

INTRODUCTION.
THE LIFE OF SAINT AUGUSTINE.

Aurelius Augustine was born at Tagaste, in Numidia,
in the year 354. His parents, Patritius, an Afro-
Roman pagan, and Monica, an ardent Christian, were
of the patrician class but in reduced circumstances. He
received his early training in the grammar school of his
native town, and in a school of rhetoric for beginners in
nearby Madaura. Recognizing the marked talents of the
boy, his father determined at any cost to prepare him for
the forum. With this end in view Patritius endeavored
to save a sufficient sum of money to enable him to send
his son to the University of Carthage. Unfortunately for
Augustine, his father's efforts did not meet with success,
and he was forced to spend his sixteenth year in idleness.
With the aid of Romanianus, a wealthy friend, the nec-
essary funds were finally provided, and the journey to
Carthage was made towards the close of the year 370.
The latent genius of the new student was soon recognized
by the University, and ere long he had achieved some
reputation as a rhetorician. The reading of Cicero's
Hortensius in the year 373, gave a new trend to his
thoughts and aspirations, and enkindled in his breast a
love for philosophy. The same year or in the beginning
of the following year, he became a convert to Manicheism.
Having finished his studies at the University, he aban-
doned the idea of becoming a lawyer and took up the
teaching of rhetoric as a profession. He returned to
Tagaste in 374, where he opened a school of grammar
or rhetoric. After a few tedious, dragging months, the
atmosphere of his native town becoming unbearable, he
closed the school and returned to Carthage, where for
nine years he taught rhetoric. This was a period of
mental unrest and incipient religious doubt for Augustine.
He had embraced Manicheism chiefly because it promised
to satisfy his strong curiosity regarding the mysteries of

8 INTRODUCTION

nature, but after nine long years of painstaking effort
on his part, this promise remained unfulfilled. Finally,
in the year 383, Faustus, the most renowned exponent of
the Manichean doctrines, came to Carthage. Augustine
had been assured again and again by his co-religionists
that this learned presbyter would be able to remove all
his doubts and to solve all his difficulties. His meeting
with Faustus, however, only resulted in his recognizing
the inconsistencies of Manicheism, which he determined
forthwith to abandon. The same year he left Carthage
for Rome, where he resumed the teaching of rhetoric.
During his sojourn in Rome, although he no longer con-
sidered himself a Manichean, both his host and his
friends were members of the sect with which he had but
recently severed relations. Through the influence of
these friends he was appointed Master of Rhetoric for
Milan by Symmachus, Prefect of Rome. While in Rome
he had been favorably impressed for a time by the skep-
tical philosophy of the New Academy, but shortly after
his arrival in Milan he discarded this for the study of
Neo-Platonism. The strong Platonistic tendencies so
manifest, particularly in his earlier writings, are trace-
able to this period. At Milan he met the saintly Ambrose,
who was directly responsible for his becoming a cate-
chumen in the Catholic Church. At the close of the fall
school-term in the year 386, he resigned his post as
Master of Rhetoric, and after a short visit to Rome went
into solitude at Cassiciacum, a country place near Milan.
Towards the beginning of Lent, the following year, he
returned to the city to prepare for Baptist. He was bap-
tized by Ambrose about Easter time in the year 387.

After his baptism, he probably remained in Milan for
some months before setting out for Ostia, whence he in-
tended to embark for Africa. The sudden death of
Monica at Ostia, however, caused him to change his plans
and he returned to Rome. The voyage to Africa was
made in the following year, 388. On his arrival there,
after paying a hurried visit to Carthage, he retired to
Tagaste, where he spent the following three years in

INTRODUCTION 9

monastic seclusion, devoting his time to prayer, medita-
tion, and study. About the year 391, he was summoned
to Hippo Regius, where, by popular request, he was or-
dained to the priesthood by Valerius, the Bishop of that
place. Five years later, in 396, he was consecrated bishop.
On the death of Valerius, which occurred in the same
year, he was raised to the see of Hippo, which he filled
with great honor and distinction until his death in the
year 430.1

1 There are two chief sources of the life of Saint Augustine:

I, Confessionum, libri .riii, an autobiography which records the
principal events in his life up to the time of his conversion.

II. Vita Sancti Aurelii Augustini Hipponensis Episcopi, auctore
Possidio, a biography written by one of his intimate associates, which
chronicles his career from the time of his conversion until his death.

The following texts were consulted:

I. Confessionum, libri xiii — Corpus script, eccl. lat. ed. Acad.
Vind. t. xxxiii, sec. I, pars. I— P. Knoll, 1896; Migne, J-P— P. L. t.
xxxii, col. 659-868 ; Watts, W — St. Augustine's Confessions, London,
1631, The Loeb Classical Library, 1912.

II. Vita Sancti Aurelii Augustini, Hipponensis Episcopi auctore
Possidio, Migne, J-P — P. L. t. xxxii, col. 33-578; Sancti Augustini vita
scripta a Possidio episcopo, edited by, Weiskotten, H. T. — Princeton
University Press, 1919.

CHAPTER I.
SOURCES.

The purpose of this chapter is to indicate and sum-
marize the chief sources to be used in the present study.
Augustine's philosophy of the soul is not to be found in
any one work or in any particular class of writings. It
is not only in his Philosophical Writings that his doctrine
is to be looked for, but also his Letters, Apologetical, Po-
lemical, Dogmatical and Exegetical Writings must be
examined. It seems hardly necessary to advert to the
fact that the list presented below is far from being a
complete list of all the works in which Augustine touches
on questions pertaining to the human soul. An effort
will be made here to point out only those works which
have a more direct bearing on the theme at hand.

As a preamble to this task, it is necessary to make the
following general observation — in order to determine ac-
curately or to interpret intelligently Augustine's doc-
trine on any subject whatsoever, the investigator must be
careful to consider the historical order of his writings.
The reason for this becomes obvious when one remembers
that his literary career extended over a period of forty-
four years, during which time his views naturally under-
went considerable change. One can reasonably look for
greater accuracy of statement and maturer thought and
judgment in the learned Bishop of Hippo than in the
struggling catechumen of Milan. He himself informs us
that his was a progressive science. He wrote as his
knowledge increased, and his knowledge increased as
he wrote, Ego proinde fateor me ex eorum numero esse
conari, qui proficiendo scribunt et scribendo proficiunt.2
In the Prologus of the Retractationes which was written
about 427, he tells his readers that in order to under-
stand the development of his doctrine they should read

2 Ep. CXLIII, 2.

SOURCES 11

his works in the order in which they were written,
Inueniet enim fortasse, quomodo scribendo pfofecerim,
quisquis opuscula mea ordine, quo scripta sunt legerit.
In any attempt, therefore, to determine the true doctrine
of Augustine, one must be careful to consider the chrono-
logical order of his writings.

The following list has been drawn up for the purpose
of acquainting the reader with the principal sources of
his doctrine on the human soul, and in order that their
chronological position among his works may be located.

Contra Academicos, libri III, the earliest of this extant
works, was written towards the close of the year 386, at
Cassiciacum, a country place near Milan. These dia-
logues are dedicated to his friend and patron Romanianus.
They contain a refutation of the Academician principle
that the human mind in its search for truth cannot attain
certitude, but only a high degree of probability. The
chief value of the work to the present treatise is that it
furnishes some of the fundamental notions of Augustine's
philosophy.

De Ordine, libri II. These two books were also com-
posed towards the close of 386 at Cassiciacum. They are
dedicated to Zenobius, one of his intimate companions
and associates. Divine Providence and the Order of the
Universe are the chief topics discussed. In the Second
Book he touches upon some questions that enter into our
study, such as the relation of philosophy to theology
(c. v) ; authority and reason (c. ix) ; quid sit Ratio?
(c. xi) ; quo ordine anima provehitur ad cognitionem
sui et ipsius unitatis (c. xviii) ; homo unde brutis praes-
tantior? (c. xix).

Soliloquia, libri II, were written before his baptism in
the year 387 at Cassiciacum. They are in the form of a
dialogue in which Augustine represents himself as dis-
cussing certain questions with his own Reason. In the
First Book he considers the qualities of mind and heart
requisite for attaining the vision of God; in conclusion,
he touches upon the immortal character of Truth. This
last consideration leads him to the main topic to be dis-

12 SOURCES

cussed in the Second Book, namely, the immortality of
the human soul. He introduces the meditations on im-
mortality by explaining the nature of Truth and Error.
Having discovered Truth to be immortal, he formulates
the argument, undoubtedly Platonic in origin, that the
human soul is immortal because it is the dwelling place
of immortal Truth.

De Immortalitate Animae was written in the year
387, either at Milan during the time of his proximate
preparation for Baptism, or at Cassiciacum shortly after
his return from Milan. It is a continuation of the medi-
tations begun in the Soliloquia. The arguments employed
in this work are neither clear nor convincing. Some
forty years later he expressed regret that the book had
been published against his will, and confessed that the
proofs developed therein are so obscure and involved
that he himself could scarcely understand them.3

De Quantitate Animae was begun in the year 387 and
finished in 388 at Rome. This book, which is in the
form of a dialogue with a friend named Evodius, con-
tains an account of several discussions on the following
questions pertaining to the human soul : unde sit, qualis
sit, quanta sit, cur corpori fuerit data, cum ad corpus
uenerit qualis efflciatur, qualis cum abscesserit.4 The
major portion of the work, as the title indicates, is
devoted to an examination of the question: Quanta sit
anima? According to Augustine, the human soul is a
simple substance, that is to say, it is inextended ; it does
not occupy space like material objects, so that different
parts of the soul correspond to different parts of space;
but it is present in the body which it animates vi ac po-
tentia (c. xxxii, 69). The last four chapters deal with
the seven stages in the progress of the individual soul
towards God, an idea borrowed from Neo-Platonism.

De Libero Arbitrio, libri III. The first of these books
was written about the year 388 while Augustine was
sojourning in Rome; the second and third books were

3 Ret. I, c. v.

4 Ret. I. c. vil

SOURCES 13

composed about 395 in Hippo. They contain a series of
dialogues with his friend Evodius in which they discuss
the problem of evil and its relation to human liberty.
The work was intended primarily as a refutation of the
Manichean tenet that God is the author of evil as well as
of good. He maintains against the Manicheans that God
is not the author of evil, but that evil exists in conse-
quence of man's exercise of free will. For our purpose
Chapters XX and XXI of the Third Book are important,
because they give a concise statement of his difficulties
regarding the origin of the souls of the descendants of the
first man. Augustine always hesitated about taking a
definite stand on this question, but he seems to have been
inclined to favor Generationism as the theory most
readily reconcilable with the orthodox doctrine of origi-
nal sin.

De Diversis Quaestionibus Octoginta Tribus, was pub-
lished at Hippo in the year 396. This work is a com-
pilation of answers given by Augustine to various ques-
tions proposed by his companions in the religious life at
Tagaste and Hippo. The following questions are of im-
portance in the present study: Quaestio prima, Utrum
anima a se ipso sit; VII, Quae proprie in animante anima
dicitur; VIII, Utrum per se anima moveatur; XXXVIII,
De conformatione animae; XL, Cum animarum natura
una sit, unde hominum diver sae voluntates.

Confessionum, libri XIII. This work, Augustine's lit-
erary masterpiece, was published in Hippo in the year
400. The first ten books are an autobiography, contain-
ing an intimate description of the author's mental and
moral experiences from his infancy up to the time of his
conversion. The last three books are exegetical in char-
acter, being chiefly a commentary on the history of the
Creation as recorded in the Book of Genesis. The auto-
biographical part of the work reveals the remarkable
introspective powers of its author, and his ability to
commit to writing his observations. The tenth book con-
tains an acute analysis of Memory and Remembering — a
splendid piece of psychological work. This study is of

14 SOURCES

value because he builds up an argument for the spirit-
uality of the soul on the power of Memory. It is the work
as a whole, however, rather than any specific part, that
furnishes many useful items, suggestions, and aids in
the investigation of Augustine's concept of the human
soul.

De Trinitate, libri XV, was begun about the year 400
and completed about 416 at Hippo. This is, perhaps, his
most profound dogmatic treatise. As the title indicates,
it discusses the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. His
motive in writing this treatise was to convince those who
attempt to demonstrate the truth of this great mystery
by reason alone that thej fhuman mind is incapable of
fathoming the nature of God, and hence that the Trinity
is a matter for faith and not for reason. From the Ninth
to the Fifteenth Book inclusive, he skillfully examines the
various trinities which are found in man. These seven
books in particular are replete with much that is of value
to the present study.

De Genesi ad Litteram, libri XII. The writing of this
work extended over a period of fourteen years from 401
to 415. These twelve books are chiefly exegetical in char-
acter, being a defense of the literal interpretation of the
first three chapters of the Book of Genesis. The main
purpose of the work is to prove that there is nothing in
the history recorded in these chapters which cannot be
literally true, nothing which is contrary to reason or to
the nature of things. Two of these twelve books have a
direct bearing on our problem — the Seventh which dis-
cusses the nature of the human soul, and the Tenth, which
deals with the origin of the human soul.

Epistola CXVIII, was written about the year 410 in
reply to a communication forwarded to Augustine by a
Greek scholar named Dioscorus. This young man who
was studying the Latin classics evidently had encountered
several difficulties which he was unable to solve. He
submitted these to the Bishop of Hippo in the hope that
he would take the trouble to answer them. His chief
motive in seeking the desired information was one of

SOURCES 15

vainglory. After severely rebuking his correspondent
for imposing so great a task upon an already overbur-
dened ecclesiastic, and from such a blameworthy, trivial
motive, Augustine answers his difficulties in a general
way. This lengthy epistle interests us because it shows,
among other things, how well acquainted its writer was
with the current philosophical theories of his day. The
third and fourth chapters especially acquaint us with his
views on the relation of philosophy to religion.

Epistola CXLIII, was written about the year 412 in
reply to a letter sent him by a friend named Marcellinus.
In this short letter he defends the attitude he had as-
sumed towards the problem of the origin of the soul.

De Civitate Dei, libri XXII. This monumental dis- .
sertation, probably Augustine's greatest work, was begun
about the year 413 and completed in or about the year
426. It is the earliest known effort to formulate a phi-
losophy of history. The invasion and sack of Rome by
the Goths under King Alaric in the year 410 had aroused
the animosity of the pagan population of the Empire
against the Christian religion. The great disaster which
had befallen Rome was attributed by the adherents of
polytheism to the neglect of their gods consequent upon
the introduction of Christianity. Augustine in this work
undertakes to show the real causes of the fall of the
earthly city, and at the same time to vindicate the King-
dom of God on earth against the misrepresentations and
unjust accusations of its enemies. According to the
author himself the first ten books are devoted to a care-
ful study of the pagan form of worship and its relation
to human welfare both in the present life and in the life
to come.5 The remaining twelve books constitute a his-
tory of the rise, the progress and the destiny of the two
cities— the City of God and the City of the World.6

It does not fall within the province of this dissertation
to give a detailed criticism of this noteworthy contribu-
tion to Christian Apologetics, suffice it to say, that in this

5 Ret. n, c. LXVIIII.

6 Ibid.

16 SOURCES

work Augustine glimpses the whole course of human his-
tory and "from the beginning to the end he interprets it
with power and insight. His apology for Christianity
rises at once to the dignity of a magnificent philosophy of
history, a work that towers 'like an Alpine peak' over all
the other apologies of Christian antiquity." 7

The value of the work for the present purpose con-
sists in this, that incidental to the main thesis, much
light is thrown upon the philosophical opinions of the
eminent thinkers of antiquity, particularly in Books
VIII and XVIIII, and side by side with these are found
the author's views on the various problems they suggest.
Although it is true that here as elsewhere we do not find
any attempt at a systematic treatment of philosophical
questions, yet there is a wealth of material scattered
through the pages of this work which the student of
Augustine's philosophy cannot afford to overlook. More-
over, in line with the general observation made in the
beginning of this chapter apropos of Augustine's mental
progress, it is useful to note that the views expressed in
this work represent the results of life-long study and
investigation. His doctrine of the human soul, as one
might expect in a work of this kind, is diffused through
the whole dissertation. It is only as occasion may de-
mand that he digresses from the main theme to touch
upon this or that particular aspect of our question. Again
as in the case of the Confessions it is not so much to a
particular part as to the general development of the
thesis that one must look for his doctrine.

Epistola CLXVI, was written to Saint Jerome about
the year 415. Augustine still troubled by the same doubts
regarding the origin of the soul which had disturbed his
mind some twenty years previously when he wrote De
Libero Arbitrio decided to submit his difficulty to Jerome.
In the Retractationes, we are informed that while the
latter wrote to him approving the course he had taken
in asking the advice of another, he nevertheless regretted

7 Bardenhewer-Shahan, Patrology, p. 479-480. Freiburg im Breis-
gau and St. Louis, Mo. 1908.

SOURCES 17

that he did not have sufficient leisure to pen a fitting
reply.8 This epistle, while largely given over to a dis-
cussion of the origin of the soul, contains in the second
chapter a short summary of what Augustine explicitly
held regarding the human soul.

De Anima et ejus Origine, libri IIII. These four books
were written about the year 420. Vincentius Victor, a
recent convert from an offshoot of the Donatist heresy,
had found among the books of a certain Spanish priest
named Peter, an account of Augustine's indecision in the
matter of the soul's origin. Victor wrote two books on
the question to Peter. These books fell into the hands of
a monk named Renatus who forwarded them to Augus-
tine. In his reply, the latter pens four separate books
on the subject, sending one to Renatus, one, in the form
of a letter, to Peter, and two to Victor. The main argu-
mlent in all four books is the same, and aims at justifying
their author's hesitancy in expressing himself definitely
upon the manner of the soul's origin.

Retractationum, libri II. This work appeared about
the year 427, and contains a critical review of the lit-
erary products of a long career. The author takes up
each one of his works in the order of its composition, and
after a brief statement of the purpose for which it was
written, he subjects it to careful revision, and correction.
The work is invaluable, if not indispensable, to the stu-
dent of Saint Augustine. It makes available a synopsis
of his chief works. It enables one to study the develop-
ment of his doctrine. It affords the opportunity to ex-
amine the author's personal criticism of his own writings.

This list, as was remarked in the beginning of the
chapter, is by no means complete ; in point of fact, a com-
plete list would probably include a large part of the vast
library of Augustinian literature which fortunately has
come down to us. No further claim is made for the work
presented here, other than that both from the standpoint
of chronology and content it is sufficient to enable one to

8 II. c. LXXI. ,

18

SOURCES

pursue intelligently the work that has been undertaken.
For the purpose of facilitating reference to this list,
and in order to designate the texts which have been used
in this study, the following chronological and textual list
is added.9

386 — Contra Academicos,
L. Ill

(Contra Acad.)
386— De Ordine, L. II

387— Soliloquia, L. II

(Solil.)

387 — De Immortalitate An-
imae, L. I

(De Immor. An.)
387-388— De Quantitate
Animae, L. I

(De Quan. An.)
388-395— De Libero Arbi-
trio, L. Ill

(De Lib. Arb.)
396 — De Diversis Quaes-
tionibus LXXXIII,
L. I

(De Div. Quaes.
LXXXIII)

400 — Confessionum, L.
XIII
(Conf.)

400-416-De Trinitate, L.
XV

(De Trin.)

Migne, P. L. t. xxxii, 905-
958; Ret. I. c. I.

Migne, P. L. t. xxxii, 977-
1020 ; Ret. I. c. III.

Migne, P. L. t. xxxii, 869-
904 ; Ret. I. c. IIII.

Migne, P. L. t. xxxii, 1021-
1034 ; Ret. I. c. v.

Migne, P. L. t. xxxii, 1035-
1080 ; Ret. I. c. vii.

Migne, P. L. t. xxxii, 1221-
1310 ; Ret. I. c. viii.

Migne, P. L. t. XL, 11-100;
Ret. I. c. xxv.

Corpus script, eccles. lat.

ed. Acad. Vind. sec. I.

pars. I, t. xxxiii — P.

Knoll, 1896.
Migne, P. L. t. xxxii, 659-

868, Ret. II, c. XXXII.
Migne, P. L. t. XLII, 819-

1098, SS. Patrum opus-

cula selecta, sec. I. t.

XLII, XLIII, Hurter, H.

Innsbruck, 1868. Ret. II,

c. XLL

9 Wherever possible the Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latin-
orum of the Vienna Academy of Sciences (Corpus script, eccles. lat. ed.
Acad. Vind.) has been consulted; in all other cases the Opera Onmia
Sancti Aurelii Augustini Hipponensis Episcopi, which is part of the
Patrologiae Cursus Completus of J-P Migne, Vol. XXXII-XLVII—
Paris, 1845-1849 (Migne, P. L.), has been followed.

SOURCES

19

401-415 — De Genesi ad Lit- Corpus script, eccles. lat.

teram, L. XII

(De Gen. ad. Litt.)

ed. Acad. Vind. sec. Ill,
pars I. t. xxviii — J. Zy-
cha, 1894.
Migne, P. L. t. xxxiv, 245-

486, Ret. II, c. L.

410 — Epistola CXVIII, ad Corpus script, eccles. lat.

Dioscorum ed. Acad. Vind. sec. II,

(Ep. CXVIII) pars II, t. xxxiiii, Al

Goldbacher, 1898.
Migne, P. L. t. xxxiii, 432-
449.

412— Epistola CXLIII, ad
Marcellinum
(Ep. CXLIII)

413-426— De Civitate Dei
L. XXII

(De Civ. Dei)

415— Epistola CLXVI, ad
Hieronymum
(Ep. CLXVI)

420 — De Anima et ejus
Origine

(De An. et ejus
Origine)

427 — Retractationum, L. II
(Ret.)

In preparing this list the
suited :

Corpus script, eccles. lat.

ed. Acad. Vind. sec. II,

pars III, t. xxxiiii, Al.

Goldbacher, 1904.
Migne, P. L. t. xxxiii, 585-

590.
Corpus script, eccles. lat.

ed. Acad. Vind. sec. v.

pars I-II, t. xxxx, E.

Hoffman, 1899-1900.
Migne, P. L. t. XLI, 13-804,

Ret. II. c. LXVIIII.
Corpus script, eccles. lat.

ed. Acad. Vind. sec. II,

pars III, t. xxxxiiii, Al.

Goldbacher, 1904.
Migne, P. L. t. xxxiii, 720-

733, Ret. II, c. LXXI.
Corpus script, eccles. lat.

ed. Acad. Vind. sec. viii,

pars I, t. LX, C. Urba et

J. Zycha, 1913.
Migne, P. L. t. XLIV, 475-

548, Ret. II, c. LXXXII.
Corpus script, eccles. lat.

ed. Acad. Vind. sec. I,

pars II, t. xxxvi, P.

Knoll, 1902.
Migne, P. L. t. xxxii, 583-

656.
following works were con-

20 SOURCES

Notitia Litteraria in vitis, scriptis et editionibus ope-
rum S. Augustini, Schoenemanni Bibliothecae, Lipsiae,
1794, Migne, P. L. t. XLVII (p. 26-34).

Dictionnaire de Theologie Catholique, 1, 2. 2311-2314.
Vacant et Mangenot, Art: St. Augustin, E. Portalie.
(Numerical References are not always accurate and must
be verified.)

Bardenhewer-Shahan, Patrology. p. 477-498.

Ueberweg-Heinze, Grundriss der Geschichte der Philo-
sophie II, p. 125. 9 ed. Berlin, 1905.

HIS NOTION OF PHILOSOPHY 21

CHAPTER II.
HIS NOTION OF PHILOSOPHY.

The history of Christian Philosophy begins with the
Fathers of the Church. These early champions of the
Christian philosophical world-view were interested in
theology rather than philosophy. They devoted them-
selves to the task of fixing, developing, explaining, and
defending the doctrines of Christianity. The pioneers
among them — those who labored before the Council of
Nice (A. D. 325) — were engaged in establishing Christian
Dogma on a firm foundation of revelation and reason,
and in warding off the sinister influences of pagan, Jew-
ish, and heretical, philosophical and religious ideas. The
writers of the Post-Nicene Period had their work mapped
out for them by the dogmatic definitions of the Council.
It fell to their lot to explain the articles of faith which
had been defined, and to combat the prevailing heresies
of their day.

With these facts in mind, it is not difficult to under-
stand why the Patristic thinkers have not left any purely
philosophical system or systems such as were created and
developed by the great thinkers of pagan antiquity.
They were not ex professo philosophers in the ordinary
meaning of the term. They did not attempt to formulate
any special theory of causes or ultimate explanations to
solve the riddle of the cosmos and human existence. The
philosophy they accepted and defended was not of their
own fashioning; it had been handed down to them em-
bodied in the doctrines of Jesus Christ.

What was their attitude towards Pagan philosophy?
We must not think that they ignored entirely the achieve-
ments of the great pagan minds in the domain of human
philosophy ; on the contrary, they sought to learn the best
that pagan thought had attained in order that they might
enlist it in the service of Christianity. Like the Neo-

22 HIS NOTION OF PHILOSOPHY

Platonists, they looked upon human philosophy and all
secular learning as existing for the sole purpose of un-
folding the impenetrable mystery surrounding the Su-
preme Being. Philosophy was, for them, merely an ad-
junct to Theology. It is not strange, then, that we find
in the writings of these early Fathers of the Church so
close a union between Philosophy and Theology that it is
difficult, and at times almost impossible, to divorce the
one from the other. This intimate association of Phi-
losophy with Theology is noticeable especially in the
earlier half of the Patristic Period, and although the
tendency to separate the two sciences appears towards
the close of the Period, we do not find any accurate defini-
tion of their respective fields until the thirteenth century.

The outstanding figure among the Patristic philoso-
phers, and one of the really profound thinkers of all
times, was Saint Augustine. What has been observed
above regarding all the Fathers in a general way, may
be applied to Augustine in particular. He was first and
foremost a theologian, and perhaps the greatest of them
all. His chief interest centered in the development, ex-
position, and defense of Christian Dogma. Theology, in
his opinion, occupies the highest rank in the hierarchy of
the sciences. The value of all human knowledge is to be
reckoned in terms of the service it renders the science of
God. To know God is the most desirable good in life.
It is in this knowledge only that man can find true happi-
ness. That man who is versed in all the human sciences,
but does not know God, is indeed miserable; but if he
knows God, — though he be ignorant of all else — he is
happy.10 Referring to Philosophy in particular, he ob-
serves that the unique affair of true and genuine phi-
losophy is to aid man in his quest for knowledge of the
Uncaused Cause of all things.11

The relation of Philosophy to Theology as conceived by
Augustine is one of reciprocal service. This is brought

10 Infelix enim homo, qui scit ilia omnia, te autem nescit; beatus
autem, qui te scit, etiamsi ilia nesciat. Conf. v. c. iv.

11 De Ordine II, c. v. 16.

HIS NOTION OF PHILOSOPHY t 23

out clearly in his exposition of the relations between
Authority and Reason. No one doubts that there are two
means by which we acquire knowledge, Authority and
Reason.12 There are two kinds of authority, divine and
human.13 Of these two, divine authority is the highest
because it is infallible; human authority is less reliable,
because it is subject to error.14 The authority upon which
he places the greatest reliance, and from which he is ab-
solutely certain that he will never deviate, is Christ.15
So far as human authority is concerned, — although, gen-
erally speaking, it is not trustworthy — those men are to
be preferred before all others who give the best evidences
of greatest learning, and who carry out in their lives the
precepts they teach.16 As regards Reason, the other
means by which we acquire knowledge, he writes : "I am
influenced also by whatever has been attained by subtle
reasoning, since I am eager not only to believe but also
to understand the truth." 17 What, then, are the rela-
tions between these two, — Authority and Reason ? In the
order of time, Authority precedes Reason, but in the order
of reality, Reason precedes Authority. (Tempore aucto-
ritas, re autem ratio prior est.) 18 Reason appears to be
more adapted to the capabilities of the learned for the
acquisition of knowledge ; but Authority is necessary for
all, both the cultured and the ignorant.19 Reason pre-
cedes Authority, in so far as it lies within its province to
examine the warrants of credibility of this or that author
or work.20 In a certain sense, Reason may be said al-
ways to precede Authority, since no one believes anything
until he has determined in his mind that it ought to be
believed.21 Finally, Authority takes precedence over

12 Contra Acad. Ill, c. xx, 43 : Cf. De Ordine II, c. ix, 26.

13 De Ordine II, c. ix, 27.

14 Ibid.

15 Contra Acad. Ill, c. xx, 43.

16 De Ordine II, c. ix, 27.

17 Contra Acad. Ill, c. xx, 43.

18 De Ordine II, c. ix, 26.

19 Ibid.

20 De Vera Rel. c. xxv, 46.

21 De Praed. Sanct. c. II, 5.

2* HIS NOTION OP

woifcs tfctt tfce <*j«ct he hAd in view ui
was not pwrx^y phik^opKk^l D* tm*H»**&M* A**m*t
vr*$ written not merely to r«
of immortality formuWt* fey Ptatxx Mt
. OhristiAn tene4 that nvan ;s MttMl
oiwimunion with i uxi . tV QwtftiM* Am**x K*d tor its
principal purpose the itenHvnstratinir of
nature of the human soul This pV -

is only A meav hkh the Mttmr ar-

explanation of the various stages tKiXKigh
-.. , - jhe sinil must ^vass on it^ myMical wt: •.- •;.• v-^^

. do:0 " .;;- the pix^Wem ol the

,. , / ,;.rs»-ondants 01 the

Kwjixxi inteivst in this ixM-p

mere curio«i^ but mther tx> tt* twr

the orthixlox divtrttti «t ortitfttl *tn

>»\>rks f\m\iah muoh valuable it^fonnaMon, tiny 4i

by *ny means afford a ^^tnplet^ and

t-ion of Augustine** philo^phy oi tho soul V)us l.-u k oi

a connected^ acientine U>f^atment of the problem .

lw inv^stiiarateit rondew It nee«aaAry te ranoll out \\\ I

ditterent ditvotiona l» uralher t-o^th«M ^ . - ^ , . ,

elements

A uvrustine— unlike Aristotlo nnd hiw i'

prefer, s.-unt Thomas Aqi^nAtt— dtd Ml bictn fe>

a jivneral theory of ftoul fiNMn \vni. h i\e ptiildl by
to the human soul. There is no o\»don,v to -<np

port the elaun of Nourriamm that August \\\<* \\\

place did not COnaidov tho hnm:»n -tonl. hnt » or

his inquiry into this problem l\v asking htmnelf, >xh.-»t »
«oul in general? M Thta mHhod of appiv.-i.-h n.iv

of the soul is evidently NourvissonVv not AufUtUhf^

38 II import* fa \* ^nMr^^« \

• U«s rAm* w«^«*^^ \

mAtv. ku^*r* rAm* fa H^nmi. . «i romm*«o

w tr. e ^» n^i^ml IVA«\* P «'•

»V«iiinn-s vN^mm* 1r t\,

-V^U Kv X01V f,N, ( V

Hi:-; :,</j i<>:< M 1-11 n.<>. .«>i-n ,

•J In ,11, .-i .In. •- I | 1. 1. -.,. |

< i im BOI prooi "i •"' i ""I

i., - hum 1 1, HI in- .,n. -i. -I MI- lab I-,, ni

m •; -• -.-.,. oft an £ -" ''i I'' o - ••" i" > "" 'i opinion)

UM .-. !.»« 1' '*! -.uh.<.t,,>nl j,,l in;/ pn.ol n.ij'l.l |... iM I ..... .

i,ul //I. ill il M Etri niM|ii .hli. -I I ,. I

mtiul to i- no i "' '• i ! "I-"" I- 'i pound -1

iH bfUWl H... I ,-. ,,;.,, I NM ,1 II, ..... I , I

,!..] Hi, I • •,,, -.Kit i II. i Inn .1 III puh. Illui MM I M ii. li

plnj Hi.. I IN Inh |< I , • nl. , , ,| NI MM 1,1

I.I In I'll I pi I.,-,, • o-'i I . I., I • , I. 1 1 I III • .M||,|,,, . .1

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1,1 lit r.1,,1. n, i nl,- M'j/.lllllllJ' III' pl.illl .toil I, I I |i>. Wo » If I iKHll,

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II,,, I MM •• • ..n j.l. . .,1 iOfl I- |(j tO fl I 'Ml .,1 MM INN....,,

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iflg WW<1 •"<! |bOUl /" ' '""""/ NN |,l,.n ,n I IM I,, I N,
HUUK'f., hill II Wii.i hliih-il ,i.- .1 I,H I lli.il AIIJMI..,||IH- lollowr.l
Ilii.- I,M,.|. ..I j.i ..... li. , • I n Uliol IM i ),., ,, . in I IM

; ,i , ..II- , . i M. ..i II,. | j-. ... , ..I M,. ,,, ,,i ,,,,! WIIH
i.,,,nui..i. -I ,,. imitation <-i U . I..M, Aguin. .1 ....,«/ he

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itotiiitf !i J ' i"" i"" i' 'i i" i" 'i - i 1 1- rrml - no

<•llril.pl, hf»W»'V«'», III pli.Vir II. I,, MltrtiOn, ilinl IH'.ol I.,

ntii'tttiHiii y in Ililn rimtt nw In i-vrry olln-i vvln-n- llii-ir i.-i

«i". -i , ...... i .-. . . i- 1 1. inftiii ...... .. MM |.i,,i., -,|.i, ,,i

fit A "|-n I ,n. M I , .-n, I IM I M I I li .1 IM Inn, . Il

I. - .,, .1 II,., I IM , . ,,1 I III I,. ., I,, VVUH

ly I ' nl , •,''""' <))"'/' il ' ""' I !••• n l-.i ..il NI,

i .1,,,, III ,,

,,, ,l ,, , i , ,,i,

:,,!, I, I

. ,, ,...,, niii ,

I-

id IMII Cam i |»I mi . .1
1 1 |i

.

26 HIS NOTION OF PHILOSOPHY

works that the object he had in view in composing them
was not purely philosophical. De Immortalitate Animae
was written not merely to restate the metaphysical proofs
of immortality formulated by Plato, but also to confirm
the Christian tenet that man is destined for unending
communion with God. De Quantitate Animae had for its
principal purpose the demonstrating of the incorporeal
nature of the human soul. This philosophical investiga-
tion, however, is only a means by which the author ar-
rives at an explanation of the various stages through
which the soul must pass on its mystical return to God.
Epistola CLXVI ad Hieronymum and De Anima et ejus
Origine deal with the problem of the origin of the souls
of the descendants of the first man. Augustine's pro-
longed interest in this perplexing difficulty was due not to
mere curiosity, but rather to its important bearing on
the orthodox doctrine of original sin. While these four
works furnish much valuable information, they do not
by any means afford a complete and systematic exposi-
tion of Augustine's philosophy of the soul. This lack of
a connected, scientific treatment of the problem about to
be investigated, renders it necessary to reach out in many
different directions to gather together its widely scattered
elements.

Augustine — unlike Aristotle and his Christian inter-
preter, Saint Thomas Aquinas — did not begin by formu-
lating a general theory of soul from which he passed by
stages to the human soul. There is no evidence to sup-
port the claim of Nourrisson that Augustine in the first
place did not consider the human soul, but commenced
his inquiry into this problem by asking himself, what is
soul in general ? 33 This method of approach to the study
of the soul is evidently Nourrisson's, not Augustine's.

33 II importe de le remarquer. Augustin ne considere pas tout
d'abord dans 1'ame uniquement Tame humaine. Avant d'etudier d'une
maniere particuliere 1'ame de 1'homme, il commence par se demander
ce qu'est Tame en general, 1'ame principe des animaux. L'ame humaine
reste d'ailleurs comme le type, d'ou il part pour y revenir, et sur lequel
il ne cesse d'avoir les yeux fixes. (Philosophic de Saint Augustin I,
p. 166, Paris, 1865.)

HIS NOTION OF PHILOSOPHY 27

The French savant proffers neither direct evidence from
the writings of Saint Augustine nor proofs of any kind
to substantiate his claim. Had he offered the statement
in question as an expression of his own personal opinion,
this lack of substantiating proof might possibly be over-
looked, but when he presents it as an unqualified fact,
one may demand to know at least upon what grounds it
is based. After asserting that Augustine at the outset
did not consider the human soul in particular, the French
philosopher admits that his interest centered in the lat-
ter. In his attempt, moreover, to sketch this supposed
general scheme, he does not tell us how Augustine defined
the soul as such, but begins his explanation by quoting a
definition of the human soul.34 After presenting a few
brief statements regarding the plant soul, the World-soul,
and the animal soul, he asserts that one must presume
that these considerations lead to a study of the human
soul in particular.35 It is interesting to note that noth-
ing was said about presuming this plan in the first in-
stance, but it was stated as a fact that Augustine followed
this mode of procedure. In another passage in the same
work, it is alleged that this general theory of soul was
formulated in imitation of Aristotle.36 Again, it may be
observed that the author is not venturing an opinion, but
stating what is purported to be a fact. He makes no
attempt, however, to prove this assertion, and proof is
necessary in this case as in every other where there is
question of Aristotle's influence on the philosophy of
Saint Augustine. Aside from the fact that he himself
records that he read the Ten Categories when he was
scarcely twenty years of age,37 it is not known for certain

34 Chap. Ill, p. 39.

35 Ainsi les considerations generates d'Augustin, sur 1'ame, aboutis-
sent, comme on devait le presumer, a une etude de 1'ame humaine
en particulier. Op. cit. I. p. 169.

36 Ainsi, c'est a 1'imitation d'Aristote, qu'au lieu de s'attacher a
1'etude de 1'ame humaine en particulier, Augustin s'engage dans une
theorie generate de Tame, ou il s'enquiert de la nature de toutes les
ames, depuis 1'ame des plantes qu'il nie, jusq'ua 1'ame -du monde sur
laquelle il ne se prononce pas. II, p. 308.

37 Conf. iv, c. xvi.

28 HIS NOTION OF PHILOSOPHY

that he was acquainted with any other work of the
Stagirite. There are exceedingly few references to
Aristotle in his writings, and none that mentions the
general theory of soul.38 We know, moreover, that while
he refers to Aristotle as vir excellentis ingenii et eloquii,
he did not consider him the equal of Plato, (Platoni
quidem impar.)*9 There has been considerable contro-
versy in regard to Augustine's knowledge of Greek, and
although this has probably been underestimated at times,
still one may reasonably presume that he was not given
to reading works written in Greek, since he preferred to
read the Neo-Platonist writings not in the original, but
in the Latin translations of Marius Victorinus.40 This
latter is significant in the present discussion because in all
probability Aristotle's De Anima had not been translated
in the fifth century. What is suggested by these few
items? We do not know for certain the extent of Augus-
tine's acquaintance with the philosophy of Aristotle; we
do not know whether or not he was familiar with his
De Anima. We do know that there is no direct reference
to the general theory of soul as expounded by Aristotle ;
we do know that Augustine was by preference a Pla-
tonist and not an Aristotelian. In the light of these
facts, and in the absence of substantiating proofs, one is
fully justified in rejecting the statement that Augustine
formulated a general theory of soul in imitation of
Aristotle. Nourrisson admits that the Bishop of Hippo
did not construct an organized philosophy of the soul,41
but is it not causing his philosophy to appear as having
been organized, to assert that Augustine first considered
the soul in general, and then proceeded by way of the
plant soul, the world soul, and the animal soul to the
soul of man? To interpret Augustine after this fashion
causes him to appear as having been interested in philoso-
phizing about the soul after the manner of Aristotle, when

38 "He makes mention of Aristotle only three times, and seems not
to have known his system" — De Wulf-Coffey — op. cit. p. 90.

39 De Civ. Dei viii, c. xii.

40 Conf. viii, c. II.

41 Op. cit. II, p. 307.

HIS NOTION OF PHILOSOPHY 29

as a matter of fact, he was actuated in this as in all his
philosophical investigations chiefly by religious motives.
All the evidence that we have been able to gather
points in the opposite direction to that indicated by the
French savant. The human soul was for Augustine the
starting point as well as the finis in his investigation of
the soul problem. Whatever he may have had to say
about the soul in general, the plant soul, the World-soul,
and the animal soul was introduced merely to better ex-
plain this main theme, which, was for him second in
importance only to the understanding of all that pertains
to the Supreme Being. In the Soliloquia, De Immor-
talitate Animae and De Quantitate Animae, the first
three works in which he treats the problem of the soul
at any length, there is no mention of a general theory.
On the contrary, in the first book of the Soliloquia he
declares expressly that he is interested only in the human
soul (7). There can be no doubt about the object of his
study in De Immortalitate Animae, since he bases his
strongest proof for immortality on the reasoning faculty
which he conceives as belonging to man alone among ter-
restrial creatures (c. II). In De Quantitate Animae he
makes the following explicit statement which places the
matter beyond all question of doubt: In primis tamen
tibi amputem latissimam quamdam et infinitam expecta-
tionem, ne me de omni anima dicturum putes, sed tantum
de humana, quam solam curare debemus, si nobismetipsis
curae sumus (c. xxxiii, 70). One will search in vain,
moreover, in works of a later date for evidence that would
Justify him in presuming that Augustine arrived at a
study of the human soul in particular through a general
theory. Finally, when we view his doctrine in its to-
tality, and recall his clear statement of purpose at the
outset of his Christian career, Deum et animam scire
cupio,42 we cannot fail to perceive that the human soul as
such, and not the soul in general or any other kind of
soul, was in the beginning and throughout his life the

42 Solil. I, c. II, 7.

30 HIS NOTION OF PHILOSOPHY

primary object of whatever study he devoted to this
problem.

What has been said thus far in regard to Augustine's
notion of philosophy may be summed up in the following
few sentences : There is a philosophy of Saint Augustine,
but it is a religious philosophy. He desires to know only
God and the human soul. He desires to know God for
His own sake; the soul for the sake of knowing God.
His study of the soul is not a purely philosophical or
psychological study ; it is a religious study. It is the soul
of man, and not the soul in general or any other aspect
of the soul question, that chiefly engages his attention.

Like the other early Christian thinkers, Augustine may
be said to have been an eclectic in philosophy. There is
no doubt but that he was acquainted with both past and
contemporary schools of philosophy,*3 and that he wove
into his own philosophy many of the ideas which came
to him through these channels. .The philosophy, however,
which dominated and influenced his thought more than
any other was Platonism. He had become familiar with
the writings of Plotinus and Porphyry, the leading ex-
ponents of Neo-Platonism, through reading the latin ver-
sions of Marius Victorinus, a well-known Roman rhet-
orician.44 While it is quite certain that Neo-Platonism
influenced him more immediately and directly than did
Platonism proper, it appears that the ideas which made
the deeper and more lasting impression upon his mind
were not those peculiar to Neo-Platonism, but those of
Plato.45 His preference for the Platonists can be ex-
plained by the fact that he considered their philosophy
to be more in harmony with Christianity than that of
the other pagan thinkers. Unlike other philosophers who
spend their talents in seeking to learn the causes of
things, and the manner of learning and of living, the
Platonists have discovered in God the First Cause of the

43 De Civ. Dei viii.

44 Conf. VIII, c. II.

45 E. Portalie. Dictionnaire de Theologie Catholique — Vacant et
Mangenot, t. 1, 2, col. 2268-2561. Art: St. Augustin.

HIS NOTION OF PHILOSOPHY 31

Universe, the light by which we preceive truth, and the
source whence we quaff happiness.46 The influence of
Plato on the thought of Augustine was enduring, and
although it is not so evident in his later writings as in
those composed during the first few years after his con-
version, it may be truthfully stated that it never disap-
peared entirely from his life. His attitude towards Plato
and the Platonists, however, underwent a change in the
course of time, as may be learned from the Retracta-
tiones, wherein he expresses his displeasure at having
unduly praised these philosophers in his work Contra
Academicos (386) : laus quoque ipsa, qua Platonem uel
Platonicos sen Academicos philosophos tantwn extuli,
quantum inpios homines non oportuit, non immerito mihi
displicuit, praesertim contra quorum err ores magnos
defendenda est Christiana doctrina (I, c. I). The prin-
cipal errors of the Platonists which the Christian must
guard against so far as the soul is concerned are the
following: the eternity of the soul; the preexistence of
the soul in an imaginary world of ideas together with the
theory that its union with the body is in consequence of
a previously committed crime ; the transmigration theory
whether understood in the sense of Plato or Porphyry,
and the indirect creation of the soul by God through the
agency of inferior beings. In judging the influence of
Platonism on the mind of Augustine it is important to
remember that he prefers this philosophy to the other
pagan philosopohies, but not to the Christian philosophy.47
Wherever Platonism and Christian philosophy conflict,
Augustine unhesitatingly chooses the latter.

This general consideration of Augustine's notion of
Philosophy has shown among other things the importance
he attached to the study of the human soul. The under-

46 Haec itaque causa est quur istos ceteris praeferamus, quia, cum
alii philosophi ingenia sua studiaque contriuerint in requirendis rerum
causis. et quinam esset modus discendi adque uiuendi, isti Deo cognito
reppererunt ubi esset et causa constitutae universitatis et lux percipi-
endae ueritatis, et fons bibendae felicitatis, De Civ. Dei viii, c. x. Cf.
Ibid. x. c. I.

47 De Civ. Dei viii. C. X.

32 HIS NOTION OF PHILOSOPHY

standing, therefore, of his concept of the human soul is
not only useful but even indispensable to the proper ap-
preciation of his whole philosophy.48

48 For further information on the question of Platonism and its
influence on Augustine, one may consult the following writers : Grand-
george L.-S. Augustin et le neo-platonisme — Paris, 1896; Dictionnaire
de Theologie Catholique, Vacant et Mangenot. art: St. Augustin, E.
Portalie, col. 2325-31 ; Newmann, A. H. Introduction to Anti-Manichean
Writings, The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers— Vol. iv, p. 27 ff — ;
Rainy, R. The Ancient Catholic Church c. ix— Edinburgh, 1902;
Nourrisson, J. F. La Philosophic de St. Augustin, II, p. 101 ff, Paris,
1865. Kampfe, A — Augustinus verhaltniss, Zu Plato in genetischer
entwicklung Jena, 1S97.

EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE HUMAN SOUL 33

CHAPTER III.

THE EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE
HUMAN SOUL.

The present day champion of the soul theory, who finds
himself face to face with the agnosticism and materialism
so evident in certain quarters of the academic and scien-
tific world, feels constrained before all else to formulate
an answer to the question, "Does the human soul exist?"
Saint Augustine apparently did not have to contend with
this particular aspect of the soul problem since, as he
himself assures us, there is no one who questions the
existence of the human soul, Quasi non evidentior sit in
hominibuis anima, quae utrum sit, nulla fit quaestio.49
It would be very convenient on the strength of this state-
ment to pay no further attention to this question but to
proceed at once to consider the nature of the human soul.
To do this however would be to follow the line of least
resistance, for some of the basic arguments employed
today in demonstrating the existence of the human soul
are to be found in the writings of Saint Augustine.

Harking back to his University days, perhaps, Augus-
tine recalls that there are three essential queries to be
considered in anything one may undertake to investigate,
whether the thing be? what it is? what is its nature?
(An sit, quid sit, quale sit.) 50 Had he studied the human
soul as a special problem and in a formal manner, there-
fore, one may reasonably conjecture that he would have
begun by asking himself the question, Does the human
soul exist? What answer, if any, could he give to this
question, and how would be go about the framing of
this answer?

Every one who has even a casual acquaintance with
the principal works of Saint Augustine knows the great
value he attached to the introspective method of study-

•}<) De Civ. Dei, VII, c. xxiii.
50 Conf. X, c. x.

34 EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE HUMAN SOUL

(Noli foras ire in teipsum redi; in interiore homine hab-
itat veritas.)51 It is not necessary, then, to search for
truth elsewhere than within ourselves for truth dwells
within us. His writings bear witness to his own remark-
able powers of introspection. He appears to have been
endowed with a rare faculty for keen and precise interior
observation, combined with a talent for analysis and the
ability to record in expressive terms the results of his
self-examination. His account of some of the more subtle
phenomena of the inner life obtainable only by intro-
spection is proof sufficient that he was not merely ac-
quainted with the introspective method but even a master
of it. As a matter of fact, he has been referred to as
"the founder of the introspective method." 52 It would be
very difficult, if at all possible, to prove this statement.
As every student of the History of Philosophy knows,
this is the original method of all psychology, and there is
no one who would be so rash as to maintain that Augus-
tine was the first psychologist. There were at least three
eminent thinkers among the Greeks — Socrates, Plato and
Aristotle — who were familiar with this method centuries
before the time of Augustine.53 Many of the early
Christian philosophers who antedate the Bishop of Hippo
undoubtedly employed this method particularly in their
study of the affective side of man's life. It would be
more in conformity with fact to say that Augustine was
probably the first Christian philosopher to understand
and appreciate the scientific value of facts obtained by
this method.54

From what has just been said regarding Augustine's
ability as an jntrospectionist and his appreciation of the
introspective method of study, one can assume that had
he undertaken a formal inquiry into the problem of the
existence of the human soul, he would have commenced

51 De Vera Religione, c. xxxix, 72.

52 Cath. Ency. Vol. XIV, p. 155. Art : Soul, Maher-Boland.

53 Cf: Driscoll, J. Christian Philosophy— The Soul, p. 4— New
York, 1898; Rand, B.— The Classical Psychologists, p. 10 ff. Cam-
bridge, 1912.

54 Gonzalez-Pascal, Histoire de la Philosophic, II, p. 89, Paris, 1890.

EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE HUMAN SOUL 35

with an examination of the testimony of Consciousness.
According to Augustine, Consciousness assures me that I
exist. I may be doubtful and uncertain about many other
things, but of this much at least I am most certain — I am.
This is an intuitive datum implied in all conscious ac-
tivity. So positive am I that this testimony of Con-
sciousness is to be relied upon, that I see no difficulty
whatever in the objection of those who say to me, but
what if you are deceived? — for, if I am deceived, I am;
since, I could not be deceived, if I did not exist. This line
of reasoning is familiar to readers of Modern Philosophy.
Descartes, the distinguished French philosopher, who has
influenced so powerfully the trend of modern speculation,
lived at a time when Augustine commanded considerable
attention among French thinkers. The position occupied
by Augustine in the world of French thought at the be-
ginning of the seventeenth century may explain in part
the striking similarity between the direct proof or dem-
onstration embodied by Descartes in his famous axiom,
Cogito, ergo sum, and the indirect argument, Si enim
fallor, sum, of the Bishop of Hippo.55 I am aware, more-
over, that I am a living being who remembers, under-
stands, wills, thinks, knows, and judges.56 There is a
•divergency of opinion among philosophers regarding the
nature of the force by which we live and exercise these
various other operations. Some have thought that this
force is of the nature of fire or air, others that it is the
brain or the blood. Some have held that it is nothing
more than a concursus of atoms or some kind of a fifth
essence, others that it is merely a combining together of
the bodily elements.57 However much the opinions of
men may differ respecting the nature of this force, there
is no one who questions its existence ; there is no one who

:..". mihi esse me, idque rosse et arnare certissimum est. Nulla in his
veris Academicorum argumenta formido, dicentium. Quid, si fallens?
Si cnim fallor, sum. Nam qui non est, utique nee falli potest : ac per
hoc sum. si fallor. De Civ. Dei. XI. c. xxvi. (cf. Ibid. c. xxvii ; De
Vera Rel. c. xxxix, 715 ; De Lib. Arb. II, c. iii, 7 ; De Beata Vita, c. ii, 7 ;
De Trin. X, c. x.)

56 De Trin. X, c. x.

57 Ibid.

36 EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE HUMAN SOUL

doubts that he lives, and remembers, and understands, and
wills, and thinks, and knows, and judges. (Vivere se
tamen et meminisse et intelligere, et velle, et cogitare, et
scire, et judicare quis dubitet?)58 According to Au-
gustine the principle of this vital force is the soul, an
incorporeal substance which cannot be perceived by
means of an image, "but which is apprehended by the
understanding and discovered to our consciousness by its
living energy." 59

Augustine would prove the existence of the human soul,
then, first of all by having each one consult his own inner
experience. This argument based on data furnished by
Consciousness was a noteworthy achievement lor a phi-
losopher of the fifth century. The historian of philosophy
who cherishes the view that this method of handling the
problem is a modern discovery could read with profit both
to himself and others the writings of this Christian
Bishop of the early ages.60

While I may be able to prove the existence of my own
soul by the introspective method, it is obvious that I
cannot employ the same method in establishing the ex-
istence of a soul in other men, for inner experience is
something personal and exclusive. In seeking to demon-
strate the existence of a soul in other men, therefore, it
is necessary to have recourse to the objective method of
investigation. We are surrounded on all sides by human
beings like ourselves. We observe in them directly not a
soul, but certain activities which we recognize as resem-
bling those which we experience in our own lives.61
Reason tells us that similar effects demand a similar
cause, but we know that in our own case these vital
activities proceed from a soul. We infer, therefore, that
these other beings have a soul like our own.62

58 Ibid.

59 Ep. CLXVI, ii, 4; Cunningham, J. G. Letters of St. Augustine,
vol. ii, p. 299-300, Edinburgh, 1875.

60. Cf. A. Schuyler. A Critical History of Philosophical Theories, p.
114, Boston, 1913.

61 De Trin. VIII, c. vi.

62 Ibid.

EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE HUMAN SOUL 37

For the sake of avoiding possible misunderstanding, it
may be well to stress the point that Augustine did not
arrange the presentation of this question as it has been
given here. The above arrangement is my own. The
various items which have been brought together in this
short sketch are not found in any single treatise composed
for the express purpose of demonstrating the existence
of the human soul. On the contrary, a cursory revision
of the text will show that the materials used were drawn
in the main from two sources, De Civitate Dei and De
Trinitate, where they appear only as incidental to the
discussion of the doctrine of righteousness in the first
instance, and in the second, in connection with the dis-
sertation on the Trinity.

By way of introduction to the problems suggested by
the questions, what is the human soul? and what is its
nature? it may be helpful to recall what has been said
in the first chapter apropos of the progressive char-
acter of Augustine's doctrine. It was insinuated there
that many of his earlier views were modified and even
radically changed in after years. This point must be
borne in mind in connection with the statement and ex-
planation of the subject-matter of the present section.
To be more specific, the answer to the question, what is
the human soul ? calls for a definition. It would evidently
be unfair to Augustine — not to say anything about the
utter disregard of his expressed wish — to take up his
first attempt at defining the human soul and proceed to
construct around this his doctrine, without making any
allowances whatsoever for the changes and additions
which naturally developed in the course of time. To do
this would be to merit the rebuke he directed against the
Semi-Pelagians when he wrote: Non sicut legere libros
meos, ita etiam in eis curaverunt proficere mecum.63 In
the present study, therefore, not only those works which
belong to the so-called Philosophical Period of his career
will be examined, but also, and especially, the treatises
composed later in life.

63 De Praedestinatione Sanctorum c. iv, 8.

38 EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE HUMAN SOUL

At the very outset of this investigation one is con-
fronted by a difficulty arising from the lack of a fixed
terminology. By what term did Augustine designate the
human soul ? The correct answer to this question cannot
be given in a single term, because, as he himself ac-
knowledges, he was unable to discover a term which
would properly specify the soul of man.64 At least three
terms appear in his writings, anima, animus, spiritus,
any one of which may mean the human soul. To deter-
mine the exact meaning he attached to these terms one
must examine them in the context. Augustine distin-
guishes in the human soul a pars inferior and a pars
superior. To the former belong the vital and sensitive
powers, to the latter the rational or intellectual powers.
Anima is sometimes used to include both pars inferior
and pars superior; sometimes it is employed in a re-
stricted sense to designate the pars inferior and to ex-
clude the pars superior: Anima aliquando ita dicitur,
ut cum mente intelligatur ; veluti cum dicimus hominem
ex anima et corpore constare; aliquando ita, ut excepta
mente dicatur. Sed cum excepta mente dicitur, ex Us
operibus intelligitur quae habemus cum bestiis communia.
Bestiae namque carent ratione, quae mentis semper est
propria.65

Concerning the use of animus he has this to say:
"There are some Latin writers (he does not say that he is
among them) who, according to their own peculiar mode
of speech, distinguish between anima and animus, so
that the latter signifies that which excels in man, and is
not in the beast, while the former signifies that which is
also in the beast." 66 In other words, they use the term
anima to designate the principle of sensitive life, and
animus, the principle of rational life.

As regards the use of anima and spiritus, which are
merely relative terms, he is more explicit. In his reply
to Vincentius Victor, he explains that if one distinguishes

64 De Gen. ad Litt. VII, 21.

65 De Div. Quaes. UCXXIIL— VII. Cf. De Agone Christiano, c.
XVIIII.

66 De Trin. XV, c. I.

EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE HUMAN SOUL 39

between these two terms, he restricts spiritus to the
higher life of man. He is careful, however, to point out
that anima, when used in a generic sense, also includes
spiritus.™

What has been said in regard to the use of these three
terms may be summed up briefly in the following manner :
Anima vel animus = the human soul
Anima (in a limited sense) == pars inferior
Animus (in a limited sense) = pars superior
Spiritus = pars superior

The meaning of these terms will become clearer in the
light of the discussion that follows.

In seeking after an exact definition of the human soul
in the writings of Saint Augustine, a much-quoted defini-
tion found in De Quantitate Animae may be taken as a
starting point. In the course of a dialogue with Evodius,
he says: Si autem definiri tibi animum vis, et ideo
quaeris quid sit animus; facile respondeo. Nam mihi
videtur esse substantia quaedam rationis particeps, re-
gendo corpori accomodata.68 The human soul, therefore,
is a certain substance participating in reason and adapted
to the governing of the body. This is the definition re-
ferred to in the comment on Nourrisson's statement that
Augustine formulated a general theory of soul.69 From
the wording of the definition it is evident that it was not
intended to apply to the soul as such but to the human
soul. Concerning this definition Nourrisson writes as
follows: L'ame peut etre exactement definie, suivant
saint Augustin, une substance raisonnable, preposee au
gouvemement du corps; substantia quaedam rationis
particeps, regendo corpori accommodata.70 In view of
the statement immediately preceding this passage regard-
ing a general theory of soul, the omission of the qualifying
attribute humaine is misleading. The use of the phrase
rationis particeps shows that the definition is applicable
only to the human soul and not to the soul as such. The

67 De An. et ejus Origine, IV, c. xxii, 17 — xxiii, 19

68 c. XIII, 22.

69 c. II.

70 Op. cit. I, p. 166.

40 EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE HUMAN SOUL

use of the adverb exactement is entirely unwarranted as
appears at once from the phrases mihi videtur and sub-
stantia quaedam. Finally, it must be remembered that
this definition is found in a work belonging to the period
of beginnings in the philosophical life of Augustine, and
was to undergo considerable development in later years.
An analysis of this definition will furnish the occasion
to set forth the various elements brought out in the course
of this development.

substantia. The human soul is a substance. Augustine,
following Aristotle,71 understands by the term "sub-
stance" a being capable of subsisting in and by itself
which does not need a subject in which to inhere.72 The
soul of man, therefore, is not an accident of the body ; it
is not in any sense qualitatively related to it.73

quaedam. substantia is limited by this indefinite pro-
noun because at the time this definition was formulated
Augustine was unable to specify the substance of the
human soul, substantia vero ejus nominare non possum.74
Although he is unable to say what the substance of the
soul is, he is careful to point out that he does not con-
sider it to be corporeal, non enim earn puto esse ex Us
usitatis notisque naturis, quas istis corporis -sensibus
tangimus.™ Further on in the same passage he explains
that the human soul is a simple entity having its own
proper substance, simplex quiddam et propriae substan-
tiae. He apparently assumes that everyone understands
that the human soul is a living substance. He had ex-
plained this notion in a previous work, De Immortalitate
Animae (c. iii) ; it is also frequently referred to in many
later works such as De Agone Christiano (c. xx) ; De
Trinitate (X, c. vii) ; De Genesi ad Litteram (VII, 16,
18, 21 ; X 22-26) . When he teaches that the human soul

71 Conf. IV, c. xvi.

72 de his enim rebus recte intelligitur, in quibus subjectis sunt ea
quae in aliquo subjecto esse dicuntur, sicut color aut forma in corpore,
De Trin. VII, c. v, 10. Cf. Conf. IV c. xvi.

73 De Trin. IX, c. iv ; X, c. x ; De Imtnor. An. c. X, 17.

74 De Quan. An. c. i, 2.

75 Ibid.

EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE HUMAN SOUL 41

is a "living substance," he means that it is capable of
imminent and spontaneous motion; it is not moved by
being acted upon from without, except in so far as its
activity comes ultimately from God, but its motion is
intrinsic to itself, it belongs to the very nature of its
being.76 The human soul is not only a living substance
but it is also a vivifying principle; it is the source of
bodily vitality, corpus hoc terrenum atque mortale prae-
sentia sua vivificat.77 Augustine distinguishes three
grades of life in man ; vita seminalis, vita sensualis, and
vita intellectualis.78 The soul is the first principle of life
in man. It is the source of bodily unity; it prevents
bodily disintegration ; it presides over the vital functions
of nutrition, growth, and generation.79 The vita sensualis
embraces the activities of the five external senses, viz.,
sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell, and of the sensus
interior, ad quern ab istis quinque notissimis cuncta ref-
erantur.80 It includes also imagination, sense memory,
and sense appetite.81 The functions of sense require a
living organism (certe sentire homo non potest, nisi
uiuat) ,82 that possesses faculties capable of receiving im-
pressions from sensible objects and of vitally reacting to
the same. The rational soul in man is the ultimate prin-
ciple and guide of all the activities of the vita sensualis.83
Finally, there is in man the vita intellectualis, which in-
cludes the three principal faculties of the human soul,
Memoria, Intelligentia, and Voluntas. These three facul-
ties are not separate distinct entities but they are func-
tions of the soul that share in its substantiality.84. There

76 De Div. Quaes. LXXXIII, viii ; De Gen. ad Litt. VII, 16.

77 De Quan. An. c. xxxiii, 70. Anima totum corpus nostrum animat
et uiuificat . . . De Agone Christiano, c. xx, 22 — uiuit autem corpus
ex anima, cum anima uiuit in corpore . . . De Civ. Dei, XIII, c. ii.

78 De Civ. Dei, V, c. xi.

79 De. Quan. An. XXXIII, 70.

80 De Lib. Arb. II, c. iii, 8.

81 De Quan. An. c. xxxiii, 71 ; De Civ. Dei, V, c. xi.

82 Ep. CXXXVII, II, 5.

83 De Quan. An. c. xxxiii, 71 ; De Civ. Dei, XXII, c. iv.

84 Haec igitur tria, memoria, intelligentia, voluntas, quoniam non
sunt tres vitae, sed una vita ; nee tres mentes sed una mens ; consequen-
ter utique nee tres substantiae sunt, sed una substantia. De Trin. IX,
c. iv; cf. Ibid. XV, c. xxii ; Conf. XIII, c. xi.

42 EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE HUMAN SOUL

is no real distinction between the soul and these faculties.
They are essentially one but relatively three.85 The soul
as a vivifying principle, therefore, is that by which we
live, and feel, and carry on the operations of intellectual
life.

The substance of the soul of man is incorporeal, that is,
it is not a body but a spirit. It has neither length,
breadth, nor thickness, nor is it extended in space. The
category of quantity can in no way be applied to it, for
it is a simple, inextended substance. Extension is the
distinguishing characteristic of matter and whatever is
not extended and yet has real existence is spirit. The
substance of the human soul since it is not extended and
has real existence is spiritual.86

The obscure idea expressed by the complex term sub-
stantia quaedam evidently was gradually clarified and
developed by Augustine until it assumed something like
the following form: substantia viva, incorporea, et
spiritualis.

rationis particeps. The human soul is a substance en-
dowed with reason. Augustine defines Reason as a
movement of the mind by which it is able to distinguish
and connect those things which are learned. (Ratio est
mentis motio, ea quae discuntur distinguendi et connec-
tendi potens.)87 The influence of the Neo-Platonist idea
of Reason appears in De Quantitate Animae where he
distinguishes between Ratio and Ratio cinatio. The for-
mer may be defined : quidam aspectus mentis 88 — it is
that power of the mind by which it is able to see truth
immediately without any bodily concurrence.89 Ratio-
cinatio may be defined: rationis inquisitio, id est, as-
pectus illius, per ea quae aspicienda sunt, motion Ratio
is the power of intuition, while Ratiocinatio is the power
of discursive reasoning; the one enables the mind to see,

85 Ibid.

86 De Trin. II, c. viii ; Cf . De Gen. ad Litt. VII, 28.

87 De Ordine, II, c. xi, 30.

88 c. XXVII, 53.

89 Cf. De Immor. An. c. VI, 10.

90 De Quan. An. c. XXVII, 53.

EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE HUMAN SOUL 43

the other, to search for and investigate the truth. (Quare
ista opus est ad quaerendum, ilia ad videndum.)91 In
De Trinitate he mentions a Ratio inferior, by which the
mind studies temporal things, and a Ratio superior, by
which it contemplates eternal things (XII, c. iii-iv).
When he distinguishes between Ratio inferior and Ratio
superior he does not mean that these are two distinct
entities but merely that they are two functions of one
and the same subject (c. IV, 4). Reason is character-
istic of the human soul. It sets man apart from and
above all the rest of terrestrial creation.92 Among all
the creatures of earth, sea, and sky, man alone possesses
a rational soul that enables him to reach out beyond the
world of sense and to penetrate the realm of eternal,
universal, and necessary truth.93

regendo corpori accomodata. The human soul is a
living, vivifying, incorporeal, spiritual substance pos-
sessing reason and adapted to the governing of the body.
This last phrase suggests one of the most difficult prob-
lems in all philosophy — the union of soul and body. The
solution of this difficulty was as much a mystery to
Augustine as it has been to philosophers since his time.
He states frankly that the mode of union between the
corporeal and the spiritual creatures in man is beyond
human ken: Quia et iste alius modus, quo corporibus
adhaerent spiritus, et animalia fiunt, omnino mirus est,
nee comprehendi ab homine potest, et hoc ipse homo est.94
It does not fall within the scope of this treatise to present
an exhaustive account of Augustine's teaching on this
subject, but we shall try to indicate its more salient
features.

Man may be defined, according to Augustine, as a
rational substance consisting of soul and body. (Homo

91 Ibid.

92 Fecit ergo Deus hominem ad imaginem suam. Talem quippe illi
animam creauit, qua per rationem adque intelligentiam omnibus esset
praestantior animalibus terrestribus et natatilibus et uolatilibus, quat
mentem huiusmodi non haberent. De Civ. Dei XII, c. xxiii.

93 Cf . De Trin. Ill, c. ii, 8 ; De Gen. ad Litt. VI, 12 ; De An. et ejus
Origine, IV, xxiii, 37 ; De Genesi contra Manichaeos I. c. xvii.

94 De Civ. Dei XXI, c. x.

44 EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE HUMAN SOUL

est substantia rationalis constans ex anima et corpore.)95
The body has a certain quantity of flesh, an external
form, an order and distinction of members, and a consti-
tution of health. (Est certe in corpore humano quaedam
moles carnis et f ormae species, et ordo distinctioque mem-
brorum et temperatio valetudinis.)96 The body is gov-
erned by a rational soul which has been breathed into it.
(Hoc corpus inspirata anima regit, eademque ration-
alis.)97 The whole corporeal part of man is under the
dominion of the soul to which it is related as a servant or
instrument.98 This relationship is not to be understood
in the sense that Ifte body is nothing more than an ex-
ternal aid or trapping of the soul, for the body is some-
thing that pertains to the very nature of man.99 On the
testimony of our own nature, we know that there must
be a union of soul and body to constitute the complete
man, corpus uero animae cohaerere, ut homo totus et
plenus sit, natura nostra ipsa teste cognoscimus.100 It is
folly for any one to try to separate the body from human
nature, quisquis ergo a natura Humana corpus alienare
unit, desipit.™* This union of soul and body that results
in man is a personal union.102 This unity of person it is,
that distinguishes Augustine's doctrine from the exag-
gerated dualism of Plato who regarded man as spirit
joined to a body accidentally and guiding it after the
manner of the charioteer directing his chariot. It cannot
be denied that at one time, about the year 388, he em-
ployed a formula analogous to that of Plato, when he
defined man as anima rationalis mortali atque terreno
utens corpore.103 This decidedly Platonic notion of
man was very probably due to his then recent contact
with the philosophical writings of the Neo-Platonists.

95 De Trin. XV, c. vii, ii.

96 De Trin, III, c. ii, 8.

97 Ibid.

98 De Civ. Dei, X, c. vi ; IX, c. ix.

99 Haec (corpora) enim non ad ornamentum uel adiutorium, quod
adhibetur extrinsecus, sed ad ipsam naturam hominis pertinent. De
Civ. Dei, I, c. xiii.

100 Ibid. X, c. xxix.

101 De An. et ejus Origine, IV, ii, 3.

102 Ep. CXXXVII, iii.

103 De Moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae. I, c. xxvii, 52.

EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE HUMAN SOUL 45

This early formula was cast aside in later years for the
one referred to at the outset of this explanation, Homo
est substantia rationalis constans ex anima et corpore.W4
The human soul exerts dominion over the whole cor-
poreal nature that it animates. The question now arises
as to the manner in which the soul acts upon the body in
the exercise of this regimen. Augustine, referring to the
prevailing theory of localization of function in the brain,
states that there are three compartments or ventricles in
the brain : one, the sense centre, is situated in the anterior
portion; another, the motor area, is located in the pos-
terior portion; while the third, the seat of Memory is
placed between the anterior and posterior ventricles.
(Ideo tres tamquam uentriculi cerebri demonstrantur :
unus anterior ad faciem, a quo sensus omnis; alter pos-
terior ad ceruicem, a quo motus omnis; tertius inter
utrumque, in quo memoriam uigere demonstrant.)105 It
is through these three ventricles of the brain that the soul
rules the body. Augustine takes care to point out that
the soul is not identical with these parts of the brain, but
that it only uses them as the instruments of bodily con-
trol. (Sed anima in istis tamquam in organis agit, nihil
horum est ipsa ; sed uiuificat et regit omnia, et per haec
corpori consulit et huic uitae in qua factus est homo in
animam uiuam.)106 The question naturally suggests it-
self, how can the soul which is an inextended, spiritual
substance affect these ventricles of the brain which are
extended and material? He answers this difficulty by
postulating a kind of intermediary substance, the nature
of which is analogous to light or air. This substance
serves as a medium of articulation between the soul and
the brain. (Anima ergo quoniam res est incorporea
corpus, quod incorporeo uicinum est, sicuti est ignis, uel
potius lux et aer, primitus agit et per haec caetera, quae
crassiora sunt corporis. . . .)107 Saint Thomas in answer
to an objection founded upon this theory of an inter-
mediary substance, agrees with Augustine that the

104 fpe Civ.JDejJ XV, c. vii, ii. £ />

106 Ibid.

107 De Gen. ad. Litt. VII, 15.

105 De Gen. ad Litt. VII, 18.

46 EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE HUMAN SOUL

grosser parts of the body are moved by the finer parts,
and that the first instrument of this motive power is a
kind of spirit. (Summa Th. I, q. 76, a. 7, ad 1 um.)
The human soul, therefore, administers the body proxi-
mately through the instrumentality of the brain, and re-
motely through a medium that is akin to spirit.

From this analysis and explanation of the definition
which is found in De Quantitate Animae, it is quite evi-
dent that Augustine's notion of the human soul underwent
considerable development during the years subsequent to
the time it was formulated. This development, it is
needless to remark, must be carefully considered by any
one who would form a correct idea of Augustine's con-
cept of the human soul. This definition together with the
one found in De Moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae (p. 44),
especially the latter, are unmistakably Platonic in form,
and to accept either the one or the other as final would
expose one to the danger of misunderstanding and mis-
interpreting Augustine's whole philosophy of the soul.
By collecting the various elements brought out in the
analysis just presented, a fairly accurate idea may be
obtained of what Augustine considered the human soul
to be. Had he gathered these elements together in the
form of a definition one might expect to find something
like the following: the human soul is a living, incor-
poreal, spiritual, rational substance which is vitally and
potentially present in the body as the principle of all its
operations.

To what has been said heretofore in respect to the
nature of the human soul, the following few pertinent
observations may be added. The soul of man, although
it is fashioned in the image and likeness of God, is not
a part of God ; 108 it does not participate the Divine Es-
sence, as the Manicheans, Priscillianists, and Origenists
maintained.109 This view of the soul was positively re-
jected by Augustine as blasphemous and heretical.110 We
know that the soul is subject to change and is, in a cer-

108 Ep. CLXVI, c. II.

109 De Civ. Dei XI, xxii. Cf. De Duabus Animabus contra Mani-
chaeos, c. I ; Ad Orosium, contra Priscillianistas et Origenistas, c. I.

110 De An. et ejus Origine II, c. ii, iii.

EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE HUMAN SOUL 47

tain sense, corruptible; but God is in every respect im-
mutable and incorruptible ; the soul, therefore, cannot be
a part of God. (Si enim hoc esset, omni modo incommu-
tabilis atque incorruptibilis esset.)111

The human soul is not part of a universal soul. It is a
single, individual entity. For a time he seems to have
entertained some doubts as to whether there is a universal
soul for all men or a particular soul for each individual.112
This view, in all probability, was due to the influence of
Neo-Platonism, which was then dominant in his intel-
lectual life. A few years later, about 395, all doubt had
evidently disappeared for he not only rejects this idea,
but even insists most emphatically on the individual char-
acter of the human soul.113

We have seen that Augustine was a zealous follower of
the Manicheans for a period of about nine years. (Intro-
duction.) After his conversion to Christianity he devoted
considerable time and attention to the refutation of the
tenets of this sect. He is everywhere vigorous in his con-
demnation of the doctrine proposed by them that in man
there are two souls — the one good, emanating from the
Good Principle ; the other, evil, emanating from the Evil
Principle.114

The theory of a World-soul invented by Plato, appears
to have been considered by him at least as a possibility
during the first years of his career.115 Later on, while he
does not positively reject it, he declares that it is hardly
credible.116 Finally, in the Retractationes, he warns his
readers against rashly embracing such a doctrine (I, v).
Although he shows some hesitancy in pronouncing for or
against a World-soul, he does not hesitate to assert that
if one accepts this theory, he must be careful to guard
against confusing or identifying such a World-soul with
God.117

m Ep. CLXVI, ii, 3.

112 De Quan. An. c. xxxii, 69.

113 De Lib. Art. II, c. ix, 27; X, 28.

114 De Duabus Animabus contra Manichaeos (392) ; Conf. VIII,
c. x.

115 De Immor. An. c. xv.

116 De Civ. Dei X, xxix.

117 De Civ. Dei IV, xii.

48 THE HUMAN SOUL IS INCORPOREAL

CHAPTER IV.
THE HUMAN SOUL IS INCORPOREAL.

Three main lines of investigation appear in Augustine's
search for knowledge of the human soul. The first of

(0 these has to do with the incorporeal nature of the soul of
man. He teaches that the human soul is not a body but
a spirit. This is a point on which his doctrine never
varied. He was always foremost among those who de-
fended the spirituality of the soul against the attacks of
materialism. The second main problem that engaged his
attention was the immortality of the human soul. He
was convinced at all times, even in his pre-Christian days,
that the soul of man is immortal in a sense proper to
itself. Finally, he sought for a solution of the difficulty

( ^ concerning the origin of the soul of man, particularly that
phase of the question which refers to the origin of the
souls of the descendants of the first man. He studied
this problem for over thirty years but never succeeded
in solving it to his satisfaction. These three main lines
of investigation will be traced in this and the subsequent
chapters.

Saint Augustine maintained against the materialistic
philosophers of his day that the soul of man is an incor-
poreal, spiritual substance.118 The reason why the ma-
terialists hold that the human soul is a body, according
to Augustine, is because they are so completely under the
dominion of the imagination that they are unable to
think of any substance as existing of which they cannot
form an image. In the opinion of these men, therefore,
only bodies are real things, and what is not corporeal is
nothing, hence they conclude that the soul of man must
be a corporeal substance.119 The crux of this problem

118 Nunc tamen de anima, quam Deus inspiravit homini snfflando in
ejus faciem, nihil confirmo, nisi quia ex Deo sic est, ut non sit substantia
Dei; et sit incorporea, id est, non sit corpus, sed spiritus. De Gen. ad
Litt. VII, 28.

119 Ep. CLXVI, c. ii; De Trin. X, c. vii; De Gen. ad Litt. X, 24.

THE HUMAN SOUL IS INCORPOREAL 49

according to Augustine depends upon the meaning one
attaches to the terms corpus and substantia. If corpus
is used to designate every substance or essence, or to put
it more aptly, that which is in some manner self -existent,
then, the soul is a body, because it is a substance.120 If
the use of the term incorporea is restricted to that nature
which is absolutely immutable and ubiquitous, the soul is
not incorporeal because it is not a nature of this kind.121
If, however, the term corpus is employed to signify a
measurable unity which is extended in space, so that one
of its parts is greater and another less, and the whole is
greater than any of its parts, the soul is not a body, be-
cause it is a simple, inextended entity having neither
length, breadth nor thickness.122 That Augustine under-
stood the term corpus in this last-named sense is evident
from his definition of corpus: quidquid majoribus et
minoribus suis partibus majora et minora spatia locorum
obtinentibus constat.123 By substantia, he means a being
capable of subsisting in and by itself ; one which does not
require a subject in which to inhere.124 The terms corpus
and substantia, therefore, as understood by Augustine are
not convertible. While every corpus is also a substantia,
the converse of this is not true, namely, that every sub-
stantia is a corpus.

The human soul is not a corpus, but it is a substantia —
it is not spatially extended ; it has no measurable dimen-
sions ; but it is a simple substance which is present simul-
taneously not only in the whole body but also in each of
its parts, non modo universae moll corporis sui sed etiam
unicuique particulae illius tota simul adest.125 When the
soul is spoken of as a "simple substance," the term
"simple" is used in a relative not an absolute sense.
Strictly speaking, God alone is simple, because He alone

120 Ep. CLXVI, c. II.

121 Ibid.

122 Ibid. Cf. etiam De Trin. VI, c. vi ; X, c. vii ; De Immor. An. c.
xvi ; De Gen. ad. Litt. VII, 21 ; De. An. et ejus Origine IV, c. xii.

123 De An. et ejus Origine IV, c. xii, 17.

124 Chap. Ill, p. 40.

125 De Immor. An. c. xvi.

50 THE HUMAN SOUL IS INCORPOREAL

is unchangeable; in Him alone there is perfect identity
of essence and attribute, quoniam quod habet, hoc est.™
If the soul is a simple substance, devoid of parts and
spatial extension, in what manner may it be said to be
present in the body which it animates? Augustine for-
mulates an answer to this question somewhat after the
manner of Plotinus, the leading exponent of Neo-Platon-
ism, the soul is present in the body, not spatially, but
vitally and potentially, non spatio loci ac temporis sed vi
ac potentia; 127 or as he expressed the same idea else-
where, the soul pervades the body not quantitatively but
by a certain vital intension.128 In connection with this
description of the manner in which the soul is present in
the body, he has recourse to the experimental method to
confirm his theory. If you touch any part of a living man
with a sharply-pointed instrument, you will observe that
although the contact is made only at one tiny spot on
the entire surface of the body, the whole soul is aware
of the contact, and aware of it as taking place at the
particular spot that is touched. In like manner, if you
carry the experiment a little farther and establish two
contacts simultaneously in different parts of the body,
the whole soul is aware of each one separately, and of
both at the same time. This simple experiment demon-
strates that the soul is not diffused through the body after
the manner of a material, extended substance which oc-
cupies a larger or smaller portion of space according to
its dimensions. If this were the case, that part of the
soul corresponding to the part of the body affected by
the instrument would experience the sensation of contact
but not the whole soul.129 Since the whole soul and not
merely a part experiences these sensations, it must be
wholly present in each part of the body at the same time,
tola singulis partibus simul adest, quae tota simul sentit
in singulis; 13° and since it pervades the body in this in-

126 De Civ. Dei, XI, c. x.

127 De Quan. An. c. xxxii.

128 Ep. CLXVI, c. II.

129 Ep. CLXVI, c. II,

130 De Immor. An. c. xvi.

THE HUMAN SOUL IS INCORPOREAL 51

extended manner, it must be an incorporeal substance.131
Some of the arguments presented by Saint Augustine
to prove the incorporeal nature of the human soul, are
neither clear nor convincing. This is true in particular
of several arguments which are found in De Quantitate
Animae and De Immortalitate Animae. As there is no
real advantage to be gained from a restatement of these
involved and subtle reasonings which represent the primi-
tive efforts of our author in the field of philosophical
writing, they may be omitted for the purpose of empha-
sizing those arguments which were to be appropriated
by the Christian philosophers of the succeeding centuries.
Augustine, in a letter which was written about the
year 412 to Volusian, a distinguished Christian layman,
says that the human soul — if it is not deceived as to its
own nature — understands itself to be incorporeal, Nam
si anima in sua natura non fallatur, incorpoream se esse
comprehendit.132 As has been stated, Consciousness tes-
tifies that the soul exists.133 This interior vision bears
witness also to the substantial nature of the soul.134 We
are aware, moreover, that we live, and remember, and
understand, and will, and think, and know, and judge.135
An examination of the nature of these operations will
reveal the nature of the agent which is their principle —
Agere sequitur esse. The phenomena of Memory prove
to Augustine that the soul of man is an incorporeal, spir-
itual substance. We know that we have innumerable
images of bodies which are fashioned by the act of think-
ing and stored up in the depths of Memory, whence they
are reproduced in some mysterious manner when we wish
to recall the objects that they represent.136 If the soul
were a body, it would be able neither to form these images
nor to retain them, since they are so numerous and fre-
quently representative of such large objects.137 There-

131 Ibid. Cf. etiam De Gen. ad Litt. vii, 21.

132 Ep. CXXXVII, c. iii, 11.

133 Chap. Ill, p. 35 ff.

134 Ibid.

135 Ibid.

136 De An. et ejus Origine, IV, c. xvii.

137 Ibid.

52 THE HUMAN SOUL IS INCORPOREAL

fore, there is no doubt that the soul is spiritual and not
corporeal, procul clubio tamen spiritalis est, non corpo-
ralis.138 This explanation of the Memory-processes of
retention and reproduction is eschewed by the modern
psychologist who points out, and rightly so, that "Since
image means a conscious representation, the retention of
images is but a metaphorical expression." 139 It is not
correct, therefore, to speak of images as if they were ac-
cumulated in a receptacle of some kind from which they
are drawn forth whenever we remember. The image it-
self is not retained but "the disposition or aptitude" to
recall it, remains after the image has disappeared.140
Augustine appears to have held that Sense-Memory as
well as Intellectual is an incorporeal faculty.141 The for-
mer, he reasons, is not a material faculty because if it
were it could not contain images which are not bodies
but only the likenesses of bodies. The latter must be
incorporeal since it retains the immaterial, such as
thoughts (ibi reconditum est quidquid etiam cogita-
mus) ,142 the explanations of the liberal arts,143 the princi-
ples of mathematics,144 and the notions of such affections
of the soul as desire, joy, fear, and sorrow.145 A few
words of explanation may throw some light on his rather
involved theory of Memory. He distinguishes three kinds
of perception, corporeal, spiritual, and intellectual. The
first, perceives all sensible objects; the second, perceives
the images of bodies which are formed by the mind and
retained therein; the third, is immediate perception by
the simple exertion of the mind without any bodily co-
operation.146 To these three grades of perception corre-
spond three kinds of Memory: the first, stores up the
images which originate with the senses; the second, con-

138 Ibid.

139 Dubray, C. Introductory Philosophy, p. 84, New York, 1913.

140 Ibid.

141 De Gen. ad Litt. vii, c. 21 ; De Civ. Dei, VIII, c. v ; De Trin. X,
c. viii.

142 Conf. X, c. viii.

143 Ibid. c. ix.

144 Ibid. c. xii.

145 Ibid. c. ix.

146 Ep. CXX, c. ii.

THE HUMAN SOUL IS INCORPOREAL 53

tains those images which are created by the imaginative
faculty; the third, retains those immaterial and purely
spiritual ideas which originate in reason.147 It would
seem from this that he did not always distinguish clearly
between Memory and Imagination. He leaves no room
for doubt, however, that he considers at least some opera-
tions of Memory to be spiritual in character, and hence,
concludes logically that the soul of which Memory is a
faculty is incorporeal and spiritual.

The incorporeal, spiritual nature of the soul can be
demonstrated also from the character of our intellectual
knowledge and operations. Augustine, in imitation of
Plato, argues that since the soul of man is capable of
perceiving the incorporeal, it must itself be incorporeal,
Oportet animum quo videmus ilia incorporalia, corporeum
corpusve non esse.1*8 He distinguishes between sense
knowledge and intellectual knowledge: the former is ac-
quired through the instrumentality of the senses; the
latter, which relates to immaterial ideas, is obtained
directly through the mind itself.149 In his refutation of
the theory of knowledge proposed by the Stoics, Epicu-
reans and Atomists, in particular Democritus, he empha-
sizes this distinction between sense and intellectual
knowldge.150 He shows that, besides the knowledge
which we acquire through the instrumentality of the
bodily faculties, there are many things that we know,
incorporaliter atque intelligibiliter.15'1 For instance, we
know that philosophers dispute among themselves con-
cerning the meaning of Wisdom and Truth, but, it is
impossible for them to form images corresponding to
these realities, and, yet they must be present to the mind
in some way or they could not be discussed. They know
Wisdom and Truth, therefore, not, indeed, as they know
those things with which they come into contact by means

147 Conf. X ; De Vera Relig. X ; Ep. VI, VII.

148 De Quan. An. c. xiii.

149 De Trin. IX, c. iii.

150 Ep. CXVIII, c. iv.

151 Ibid.

54 THE HUMAN SOUL IS INCORPOREAL

of images, but directly, by pure thought.152 This argu-
ment is interesting in view of the fact that the problem
of "Imageless Thought" is receiving some attention at the
present time in the field of Experimental Psychology. It
is a curious fact — and one well worth noting — that this
very same question, as to whether there can be any
thought without its concomitant image, was mooted in
Augustine's day. A lengthy discussion of this problem
is to be found in his correspondence with his "beloved
friend" (dulcis amicus meus), Nebridius.153 In a letter
written to Augustine about the year 389, Nebridius had
stated it as his opinion that there could be no thought
without some kind of an image; a word-image at least
must be present in every act of thinking.154 Our author
disagrees with this opinion and maintains that it is pos-
sible for us to think about certain things without any
concomitant image. We are able to think of Eternity,
for instance, without forming any image of it.155 He em-
phasizes this imageless character of some of our thinking
in several works of a later date. We know that we have
such ideas as those of Faith, Hope and Charity,156 the
idea of God,157 or, as he expresses it elsewhere, the notion
of a being divine and supremely immutable 158 — all of
which are spiritual and hence in no way traceable to the
activities of the bodily senses. Ideas of this kind can be
apprehended only by pure reason.159 Since the soul of
man is capable of apprehending the purely spiritual,
Augustine logically infers that the soul must be an in-
corporeal, spiritual substance.160

As regards the higher operations of the soul, he teaches
that man is capable of remembering, understanding,
willing, thinking, knowing, and judging, all of which

152 Ibid. Cf : De Gen. ad Litt. X, 24.

153 Conf. IX, c. iii.

154 Ep. VI.

155 Ep. VII.

156 De An. et ejus Origine, IV, c. xx.

157 Ibid. c. xiv.

158 Ep. CXVIII, c. iii.

159 Ibid.

160 De An. et ejus Origine, IV, c. xiv.

THE HUMAN SOUL IS INCORPOREAL 55

presuppose an incorporeal, spiritual principle. Take,
for example, the act of judgment. If the image which
one calls to mind to aid him in thinking is not a body,
but only the likeness of a body, then that faculty by
which he is able to perceive this image is not a body, and
a fortiori the faculty which judges whether the image is
beautiful or ugly is not a body. But that which judges
is the mind of man ; it is a faculty which pertains to the
nature of the rational soul, which certainly is not a body,
Haec mens hominis et rationalis animae natura est, quae
utique corpus non est. In refuting the Stoics and Epi-
cureans who attributed the faculty of judgment to the
senses (qui posuerunt indicium ueritatis in sensibus cor-
poris),1Q1 he remarks, how can these philosophers assert
that "none are beautiful but the wise," since neither
"beauty" nor "wisdom" can be perceived by the senses.162
To form a judgment of this kind one must compare not
image with image, but idea with idea. If the faculty of
judging images is incorporeal, then the faculty which is
able to judge immaterial ideas must also be incorporeal.
But this faculty belongs to the rational soul of man.
Therefore the rational soul of man is incorporeal.16*
Finally, the strongest and most convincing proof of the
incorporeal nature of the human soul is based upon its
capacity to reflect upon itself. By means of this act we
not only know that we have a soul, but we can also know
what the soul is by a study of our own.164 In this opera-
tion the soul does not form an image of itself, so that it
is, as it were, simultaneously where it can both look and
be looked at, but it beholds itself by a certain process of
incorporeal conversion which pertains to its very na-
ture.165 If the soul were a material, extended entity,

De Civ. Dei VIII, c. v.

161 Ibid. c. vii.

162 Ibid.

163 Ibid.

„ 164 Non enim tantum sentimus animum, sed etiam scire possumus
quid sit animus consideration nostri ; habemus enim animum De Trin.
VIII, c. vi.

165 Proinde restat ut aliquid pertinens ad ejus naturam sit con-
spectus ejus, et in earn, quando se cogitat, non quasi per loci spatium
sed incorporea conversione revocetur. De Trin. XIV, c. vi.

56 THE HUMAN SOUL IS INCORPOREAL

however, it would not be able, so to speak, to bend itself
completely back upon itself so as to be at one and the
same time both the subject which sees and the object
which is seen.166 Since the soul is capable of this opera-
tion of self-reflection which is incorporeal in character
it must itself be incorporeal.167

The philosophical doctrine of Spiritualism as it is
found in Christian Philosophy received much of its de-
velopment from Saint Augustine. While it is very true
that he borrowed freely from the Pagan as well as the
Christian philosophers who had gone before him, yet he
deserves not a little credit for the admirable manner in
which he synthesized the best elements of their doctrine
and brought them to a higher stage of development. He
was the channel through which the spiritualistic findings
of the past were transmitted to the Christian thinkers of
subsequent times. Those who came after him in the
great Scholastic movement took up the arguments which
he had gathered together and both further developed and
perfected them. Augustine's doctrine suffered from the
lack of a fixed and sufficiently defined and expressive
terminology. This terminology was contributed by the
Schoolmen and was a distinctive addition to the Christian
philosophy of the soul. The place which this problem
occupies in Christian philosophy is an important one,
because upon it rests the significant question of the im-
mortality of the soul.

166 Ibid.

167 Ibid. Cf. De Trin. IX, c. iii.

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL 57

CHAPTER V.
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL.

A study of the popular and cultural traditions of all
peoples of all times discloses a constant and universal
conviction among men that the human being is destined
to survive this present existence, that there is a life
after death. The belief in an undying survival is as
ancient as the race. We discover this belief among the
great nations of antiquity intimately bound up with re-
ligious ideas, customs, rites of worship, and burial. With
the rise of Philosophy among the Greeks the problem of
human immortality enters the domain of rational specu-
lation, but even here its religious aspect is never entirely
submerged. "In one particular instance Greek religion
contributed directly to Greek philosophy by handing over
to philosophy the doctrine of immortality, — a doctrine
which in every stage of its philosophical development has
retained the marks of its theological origin." 168 The
doctrine of immortality in the Christian religion is a
fundamental tenet resting upon both revelation and rea-
son. The early Christian doctrine of immortality is well
defined in the writings of Saint Augustine.

The philosopher is interested in constructing a rational
doctrine of immortality; he seeks to demonstrate the
immortality of the human soul on purely rational grounds.
He begins his study of the problem by asking himself the
question, what is immortality? Etymologically, the word
"immortality" signifies deathlessness or the state of not
being subject to death. According to Augustine, death
is the cessation of life, hence that is immortal which will
never cease to live.169 By the immortality of the human
soul, he means that the soul of man will never cease to
have some kind of life. (Quod sit immortalis secundum
quendam uitae modum, quern nullo modo potest amit-
ies Turner, W., History of Philosophy, p. 31, Boston, 1903.
169 De Civ. Dei, XIII, c. ii.

58 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL

tere.) 17° We know from experience that the body of man
dies when it is separated from the soul.171 Although the
death of the body ensues when the two cohering essences
are rent asunder,172 the soul does not die, that is to say, it
does not, at least in a certain sense, cease to live and feel.
(Nam ideo dicitur inmortalis, quia modo quodam quantu-
locumque non desinit uiuere adque sentire.) 173 He speaks
of the immortality of the soul with a qualification be-
cause as he recalls there is a kind of death which the
soul experiences when it is deprived of happiness.174
This sort of death, however, does not affect the essence
of the soul, for the soul even when it is most miserable
does not cease to live.175 The human soul is not immortal
in the same sense as we predicate immortality of God.
There is a certain kind of death which the soul of man
can suffer, but God is above all death, He is absolutely
immortal.176 He alone possesses immortality stride lo-
quendo, since He alone is immutable in his essence and
will.177 The immortality of the soul, therefore, according
to Augustine means that the soul is of such nature that
it will live always ; that while it is created in time it will
not perish in time ; 178 that it is not absolutely undying as
is God, but it is immortal in a manner peculiar to itself.179
His earliest discussion of the immortality of the soul
is found in the simulated dialogues of the Soliloquia and
in De Immortalitate Animae, both of which were written
about the year 387. These two works contain several
metaphysical proofs which are like in character to those
formulated by Plato and developed by the Platonist
philosophers. Three of these proofs are deserving of
some notice, not that they have any special intrinsic

170 De Gen. ad Litt. VII, 28.

171 De Civ. Dei, XIII, c. vi.

172 Ibid. c. ii.

173 De Civ. Dei, XIII, c. ii.

174 De Trin. XIV, c. iv.

175 Ibid.

176 Ep. CLXVI. c. ii.

177 Conf. X, c. x.

178 De Civ. Dei, XI, c. iv.

179 Ep. CXUII, 7.

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL 59

value, but because they represent the earliest efforts of
Augustine to construct a rational doctrine of immortality.
In the first of these proofs his line of reasoning is as
follows : Truth so exists in the soul that it is inseparable
from it, but Truth is immortal, therefore, the soul is
immortal. He introduces a resume of a very involved and
long-drawn-out discussion of this argument by remind-
ing himself of the familiar fact that one thing may be
said to be in another in a two-fold sense: either it so
exists in its subject as to be separable from it; or it
exists in its subject in an inseparable manner.180 With
this distinction in mind he argues : if that which exists in
its subject in an inseparable manner is immortal, the
subject also must be immortal. We know that Science
exists in the soul in an inseparable manner, but Science
is Truth and Truth is immortal, therefore, the soul is
immortal.181 He concludes the exposition of this proof,
which he himself considered the best and strongest of all
the metaphysical proofs, by depicting Reason his imag-
inary disputant as exhorting him to yield to this argu-
ment and give his assent to Truth when she insists that
she is indwelling and immortal, and that therefore the
soul is immortal, immortalis est igitur anima: jam jam
crede rationibus tuis, crede veritati; clamat et in te esse
habitare, et immortalem esse, nee sibi suam sedem qica-
cumque corporis morte posse subduci.182

The meditations begun in the Soliloquia were finished
in De Immortalitate Animae. He opens the latter work
with an argument similar to the one just stated; the
human soul contains knowledge, but all knowledge per-
tains to some science, and science is immortal, therefore
the soul is immortal (c. i).183 This argument is followed
by another which also appealed strongly to the mind of
Augustine at the time it was formulated. The soul of
man is immortal because it is the seat of Reason which
is immortal. Reason is another of those things which

180 Solil. II, c. xii.

181 Ibid. c. xix, 33.

182 Ibid.

183 Cf. Ep. II, ad Nebridium.

60 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL

exists in the soul in an inseparable manner, but Reason
can exist only in a living subject, and since it must exist
always, its subject must be immortal, therefore the human
soul is immortal, quamobrem si anima subjectum est, ut
supra diximus, in quo ratio inseparabliter, ea necessitate
quoque qua in subjecto esse monstratur, nee nisi viva
anima potest esse anima, nee in ea ratio potest esse sine
vita, ,et immortalis est ratio; immortalis est anima
(c. vty. The third and last of these metaphysical proofs
worthy of mention is nothing more than a restatement
of one of Plato's arguments. The soul of man differs
from the body in this, that it is life, while the body is
merely something animated. We know that what is
merely animated may be deprived of life by separation
from its life-giving principle, hence it is that the death
of the body ensues when it is separated from the soul.
The soul, on the contrary, cannot suffer death because
life belongs to its very essence, therefore, the soul is
immortal, quidquid enim vita desertum mortuum dicitur,
id ab anima desertum intelligitur; haec autem vita, quae
deserit ea quae moriuntur, quia ipsa est animus et seip-
sam non deserit: non moritur animus (c. ix; c. xiv).
This same line of argumentation is repeated many years
later in De Trinitate. In considering the various opin-
ions advanced by the pagan philosophers respecting the
substance of the soul, he observes that those who have
held that the soul is some kind of incorporeal life have
attempted also, each one according to his ability, to
prove that it is immortal, since they understood that life
cannot exist without life (X, c. vii).

It is exceedingly difficult to follow the intricate mazes,
of speculation in which these alleged proofs of immor-
tality are involved. Augustine himself evidently realized
this when he wrote his review of De Immortalitate
Animae in the Retractationes, for he remarks, qui primo
ratio cinationum contortione atque breuitate sic obscurus
est, ut fatiget, cum legitur, etiam intentionem meam
uixque intelligatur a meipso (I, c. v). He acknowledges,
then, some forty years after they had been proposed, that

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL 61

these metaphysical proofs are not only vague and con-
fused, but even unintelligible. Howevermuch deserved
this severe criticism of his own work may appear at
first glance, nevertheless one must not overlook the fact
that some elements of real value are to be found in this
early treatise on immortality.

This purely speculative line of reasoning was aban-
doned by Augustine in after years for the presentation
and development of what may be termed the natural evi-
dences of immortality. What is by far the best and most
acceptable of all the arguments proposed by him in favor
of the immortality of the human soul is based upon man's
natural desire to continue in existence. Every man, he
writes, is aware of a deep-seated, ineradicable, natural
longing for being and life. We know, moreover, that
this desire is not peculiar to ourselves, but that it is
universal ; it is one of those fundamental cravings which
belongs to our common, rational, human nature.184 We
all desire to live. We wish not to be annihilated.185 Our
nature shrinks from the very thought of annihilation.186
So powerful is this longing for existence that were a
man who is actually miserable to be given the alternative
of continuing in a state of misery or of being annihilated,
he would choose unhesitatingly the former.187 We need
not seek far for corroboration of this, for we know from
personal observation the horror and fear men have of
death and how mightily they struggle against its ap-
proach, even when they are in the greatest misery.188
This instinct of self-preservation that we find in man is
not wanting in brute creation. Irrational animals from
the smallest to the largest, show by their behavior that
they possess this tendency to cling to being and to life.189
Trees and plants, too, after their own fashion manifest
something similar to this tendency as can be seen from

184 De Trin. XIII, c. iii.

185 Ibid.

186 De Civ. Dei XI, c. xxvii.

187 Ibid.

188 Ibid.

189 Ibid.

62 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL

the way in which their roots dig down deep into the soil
while their branches stretch skywards towards the sun
in order that they may draw from these sources what is
necessary for the continuance of life.190 Even inanimate
matter seems somehow or other to assume that position
in which it can exist in most accordance with its nature.191
In the case of inanimate matter, and trees, and plants,
this natural tendency, of course, does not imply conscious
effort. The irrational animal on the other hand strives
consciously in the struggle for existence. Finally, in the
human being there is present not only conscious effort,
but also the rational desire to survive.192 Man desires
not merely to survive his present existence, but he
actually desires to be immortal.193 This desire has been
implanted in man by the supremely immutable Creator,
therefore, it will not be frustrated, and man will con-
tinue to exist forever.194

In view of the fact that there are those who reason by
analogy from the accepted principles of the conservation
of matter and of energy to the indestructibility of the
soul, it is interesting to observe that a trace at least of
this analogy seems to be found in one of the arguments
for immortality advanced by Augustine. Annihilation
means the perfect destruction of a being so that nothing
of it remains, or to express the same idea in simpler
terms, it implies that something becomes nothing.195
Every loss that a being suffers tends towards its annihila-
tion, but it does not follow that because a being tends
towards annihilation that it is ever actually annihilated.
We know, for instance, that a physical body can be dimin-
ished and hence tend towards annihilation, but although
it may be infinitely reduced, that is to say, broken up into
the smallest conceivable particles, it is not thereby anni-
hilated. If this be true of the body of man which is a

190 Ibid.

191 Ibid.

192 Ibid.

193 De Trin. XIII, c. viii.

194 Ibid.

195 De Immor. An. c. vii.

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL 63

physical something how much truer must it be of his
soul which has a nature so far superior to the body.193
It would be presuming too much, perhaps, to lay any
particular stress on the possible relation of this argu-
ment to the line of reasoning followed by some modern
thinkers. It is offered here merely for what it may be
worth as an item of historical interest.

Side by side with the development of the argument
based on the natural desire for existence, we find another
drawn from man's natural desire for happiness. Augus-
tine says that there is no doubt among those who are
able to reason in any manner whatsoever that all men
wish to be happy, omnium certa sententia est, qui ra-
tione quoquo modo uti possunt, beatos esse omnes homines
uelle.™1 Each man recognizes in himself this longing for
happiness. He knows, furthermore, that this desire is
not proper to himself as an individual, but that it is
shared also by every other human being.198 While all
men are aware of this desire to be happy, all are not
agreed as to how it is to be fulfilled. This is evident
from the fact that some men seek happiness in those
things which pertain to the appetites of the flesh ; others
search for it in the pleasures of the mind; while some
few look for it in both of these.199 For his part Augus-
tine agrees with the Platonists that this desire for happi-
ness can be fully realized only in the possession of the
Supreme Good.200 The Supreme Good, however, is God,
and He is unattainable in this mortal state, therefore, if
man is to be happy he must survive his present existence.
This survival, moreover, must be permanent for if it
were not man would not be happy, since he would always
live in fear of losing that which he possessed and en-
joyed.201 It follows from this that since man desires to
be happy, he desires also to be immortal for happiness

196 Ibid, c. vii-viii.

197 De Civ. Dei X, c. i.

198 De Trin. XIII, c. iii.

199 Ibid. c. iv.

200 De Civ. Dei, X, c. i.

201 Ibid.

64 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL

cannot be without immortality, cum ergo beati esse
omnes homines velint, si vere volunt, profecto et esse
immortales volunt; aliter enim beati esse non possent.202
This two-fold desire for happiness and immortality has
been implanted in the nature of man by the Creator,
therefore, it will not be frustrated.203

Augustine maintained that there are very few men
who have the ability and the necessary leisure and learn-
ing to discover the immortality of the soul by the unaided
light of human reason.204 Philosophers who have at-
tempted to solve this problem by reason alone may have
succeeded in establishing the fact of survival, but they
have failed to grasp the idea of permanence of personal
identity.205 Plato, for example, taught that the soul sur-
vives the death of the body, but it is most certain that
he held also that the souls of men return in the bodies of
beasts.206 This same opinion was cherished by Plotinus,
the ablest interpreter of Plato.207 Porphyry, however,
the pupil of Plotinus, rejected this view and substituted
for it the theory that human souls return, not indeed in
the bodies of beasts, but in human bodies.208 Augustine
praises Porphyry not only for improving upon the theory
of his Master but also for teaching that the soul after
passing through a certain cycle of reincarnations, finally
enjoys immortal happiness in the possession of God.209
Although the theory of Porphyry is more reasonable than
that of the other Platonists, it is by no means satisfac-
tory since it provides only for the immortality of the soul
and not for the immortality of the whole man.210 From
these considerations it is clear that even the best equipped
intellects, if left to themselves, are unable to solve the

202 De Trin. XIII, c. viii.

203 Ibid.

204 De Trin. XIII, c. ix.

205 Ibid.

206 Nam Platonem animas hominum post mortem reuolui usque ad
corpora bestiarum scripsisse certissimum est. De Civ. Dei X, c. xxx.

207 Ibid.

208 Ibid.

209 Ibid.

210 De Trin. XIII, c. ix.

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL 65

problem of immortality.211 This whole question of im-
mortality rests ultimately on faith, "it is faith that
promises not by human argumentation, but by divine
authority that the whole man, — who, indeed, consists of
soul and body — will be immortal and therefore truly
blessed." 212 One reason why the Son of God became
man was that He might build up this hope of immor-
tality in the hearts of men. He assumed our mortality
in order that we might one day partake of that immor-
tality which He alone can give.213

Augustine's doctrine of immortality has some real
merit. This fact is sometimes overlooked by those who
summarily dismiss this portion of his philosophy of the
soul with a passing mention of the Platonic proofs stated
in De Immortalitate Animae.21* Others writers there are
who seem to be of the opinion that there is nothing worth
while in Augustine's doctrine of immortality, for they
pass it by without even so much as a mention.215 There
is a tendency in other quarters to lay particular stress on
the Platonic proofs of his earlier years while the argu-
ments set forth in De Trinitate and De Civitate Dei are
given but scant attention. Nourrisson, for instance, in
his Critique of Augustine's philosophy points out in a
single sentence that our author saw a strong presumption
for immortality in man's natural desire for being, while
he devotes some pages to the discussion of the proofs
found in De Immortalitate Animae™

Any one who essays to present the doctrine of immor-
tality as it is developed in the writings of Augustine can-
not afford to disregard those proofs to which he devoted

211 Ibid.

212 Fides autem ista totum hominem immortalem futurum, qui
utique constat ex anima et corpore ; et ob hoc vere beatum. non argu-
mentatione humana, sed divina auctoritate promittit. De Trin. XIII,
c. ix.

213 Ibid.

214 Turner, W. History of Philosophy, p. 232, Boston, 1903;
Stoeckl, A. Geschichte der Christlichen Philosophic zur Zeit der
Kirchenvater. p. 303, 304 Mayence, 1891. Ueberweg-Heinze II, p.
134-135.

215 Cath. Ency. II, art: Augustine, p. 84; Immortality, VII, p. 687.

216 Op. cit. II, p. 316-317.

66 THE IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL

special attention during the best years of his career. He
cannot fairly state this doctrine until he has investigated
at least the principal arguments which are advanced in
the two great dissertations, De Trinitate and De Civitate
Dei. The argument based on man's natural craving for
immortality as presented by Saint Augustine is deserving
of some serious consideration. This argument in one
form or another has always made a strong and sometimes
a convincing appeal to thoughtful men.217 It was prob-
ably through Augustine that this argument found its way
into scholastic philosophy where in the hands of Saint
Thomas it was developed into a strong rational support
of the Christian doctrine of Immortality.

217 Catholic University Bulletin, April, 1900: The Argument of
Saint Thomas for Immortality, E. A. Pace.

THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN SOUL 67

CHAPTER VI.
THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN SOUL.

The problem of the origin of the human soul as it is
found in the writings of Saint Augustine presents a two-
fold aspect. There is first of all the fundamental ques-
tion regarding origin itself. He believes that the human
soul comes from God by way of creation. (Propriam
quamdam habitationem animae ac patriam Deum ipsum
credo esse a quo creata est.)218 Then there is the ques-
tion of the time and manner of creation, which involves
two distinct problems — how and when did the first human
soul originate? How can the origin of subsequent souls
be explained ?

Augustine teaches very clearly that neither the soul of
the first man nor the souls of his descendants have been
created by God in the sense that they have been engen-
dered from His own substance ; the human soul is not to
be considered as emanating from the Creator so that in
its essence it is divine.219 The Emanation Theory had
been advanced and supported by the Neo-Platonists,
Gnostics, Stoics, Manicheans, and Priscillianists of
Spain.220 Augustine admits that he subscribed to this
pantheistic theory during his Manichean days, because,
as he frankly acknowledges, he was incapable at the time
of differentiating between the Divine Substance and tnat
of the soul.221 When he had arrived at last at a clearer
understanding of the nature of the Supreme Being, he
understood that it was impossible for a mutable substance
like the human soul to be identical with the absolutely
unchangeable substance of God.222 In connection with
this theory, it must be noted also that he explicitly

218 De Quan. An. c. i, 2.

219 De Gen. ad Litt. VII, 3. 4; Epistolae CXL, c. iii, CXLIII, 7,
CLXVI, c. ii, CXC, c. i; De An. et ejus Origine II, c. iii.

220 Ep. CLXV, c. i.

221 Conf. IV, c. xvi, VII, c. i.

222 Ep. CLXVI, c. ii; De Civ. Dei VIII, c. v; XI, c. xxiii.

68 THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN SOUL

warns us against entertaining the idea that the soul of
man was begotten from the substance of God as was His
Divine Son, or that it came by way of procession as did
the Holy Spirit so that in its nature and substance it is
identical with the Deity, non de substantia del genitus
nee de substantia dei procedens, sed factus a deo.223

The Evolutionary Theory of soul which came into
prominence during the latter half of the nineteenth cen-
tury was not unknown to Augustine. Among the things
which he holds most firmly regarding the origin of the
human soul is this, that no body, nor any irrational soul
can be so transformed as to become a human soul, nee
corpus nee animam inrationalem nee substantiam, qua
deus est, conuerti et fieri animam humanam.224 If the
human soul is in some manner drawn from the irrational
soul of a brute, one may reasonably inquire whence comes
this irrational soul? If the reply is given that it is
fashioned from corporeal matter, then, it follows log-
ically, that the human soul is corporeal, a conclusion
which is contrary not only to known facts but also to the
explicit teachings of the Catholic Faith.225

If God did not form the first human soul from his own
substance or from any corporeal matter or irrational soul,
it remains that either He fashioned it from some already
existing spiritual substance, or that He created it from
nothing.226 After a lengthy discussion of different inter-

223 De Gen. ad Litt. VII, 28. Cf. De An. et ejus Origine II, c. iii;
De Actis cum Felice Manichaeo II, c. xx.

224 De Gen. ad Litt. X, 4. Cf. Ibid, VI, 15.

225 Si autem anima inrationalis materies est quodammodo, de qua fit
anima rationalis, id est humana, rursus quaeritur, etiam ipsa inra-
tionalis unde fiat, quia et ipsam non facit nisi creator omnium
naturarum. an ilia de materie corporali? cur non ergo et ista? Nisi
forte quod uelut gradatim fieri conceditur conpendio posse deum
facere quisquam negabit. Proinde quaelibet adhibeatur interpositio, si
corpus est materies animae inrationalis et anima inrationalis est
materies animae rationalis, procul dubio corpus est materies animae
rationalis. quod neminem umquam scio ausum esse sentire, nisi qui et
ipsam animam nonnisi in genere alicuius corporis ponit. Deinde
cauendum est, ne quaedam translatio animae fieri a pecore in hominem
posse credatur — quod ueritati fideique catholicae omnino contrarium
est — si concesserimus inrationalem animam ueluti materiem subiacere,
unde rationalis anima fiat. De Gen. ad Litt. VII, 9.

226 De Gen. ad Litt. X, 4.

THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN SOUL 69

pretations of several passages in the Holy Scriptures
bearing on this question, Augustine expresses his pref-
erence for the view that the soul of the first man was
created ex nihilo.227 The soul of the first woman also
was created from nothing. Since the first woman was
not an offspring of the first man by natural generation
but was made in a different manner from other human
beings her soul was not from the first man but was
created ex nihilo by God.228

Concerning the time of origin of the first soul he
teaches that the soul is not eternal and that it did not
previously exist in the sense expounded by Plato and
Origen. The statement of Ueberweg that he maintained
that "only God and the souls of angels and men are
eternal" is evidently incorrect.229 For Augustine ex-
pressly declares that though he is ignorant of the ages
that may have passed before the human race was created
he is certain that nothing created is co-eternal with the
Creator.230 The statement in question, moreover, does
not harmonize with another which is found in the same
paragraph in which it is declared that Augustine taught
that the soul had no existence previous to its union with
the body. This declaration likewise is not entirely accu-
rate. Although human reason may not be able to com-
prehend how the soul can be immortal without being at
the same time eternal, Faith, founded upon Divine Au-
thority, teaches that the soul is not co-eternal with God
but has been created by Him.231

The doctrine of Preexistence as advocated by Pytha-
goras, Plato, the Platonists, and Origen,232 is condemned

227 Ibid, 6, 7, 8, 9.

228 Ibid. 10.

229 Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophic, II, p. 119-120, Ber-
lin, 1905.

230 Quae saecula praeterierint antequam genus institueretur
humanum, me fateor ignorare : non tamen dubito nihil omnino crea-
turae Creatori esse coaeternum. De Civ. Dei, XII, c. xvii.

231 Quur ergo non potius diuinitati credimus de his rebus, quas
humano ingenio peruestigare non possumus, quae animam quoque
ipsam non Deo coaeternam, sed creatam dicit esse, quae non erat? De
Civ. Dei, X, c. xxxi.

232 Ep. CLXV. c. i. Concerning Origen, cf. De Civ. Dei, XI, c. xxiii.

THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN SOUL

by the Bishop of Hippo in the name of Reason and in
conformity with the express anathema of the Church.233
This theory which maintained that the soul is united to
the body in the present life in consequence of faults com-
mitted in some previous state of existence is opposed
chiefly on the grounds that it is entirely incompatible
with the Divine Goodness, for if this were true, Creation
would be a punishment and not a blessing.234

Augustine did not reach any definite conclusion as to
the time when the first soul was created. There are two
possibilities in the case: either it was created in the be-
ginning when "He that liveth forever created all things
together ;" 235 or it was created on the sixth day at the
moment of its union with the body.236 Of these two
opinions, he holds the former to be credibilius et toler-
abilius.2^ As to whether the soul, if it were created in
the beginning entered the body on the sixth day through
direct Divine intervention or in some spontaneous man-
ner he was unable to decide.238

The feature of this problem which caused the greatest
mental anxiety to Augustine concerns the origin of the
souls of the descendants of the first man. This question
engaged his attention at frequent intervals during his
career. We discover its beginning in De Libero Arbitrio
(III, c. xx-xxi), written about 395. He devotes consid-
erable attention to it in De Genesi ad Litteram (VII, X),
(401-415), and Epistolae CXLIII (412), CLXIV (414),
CLXVI (415), CXC vel CLVII (418). He composed four
books on the subject entitled, De Anima et ejus Origine,
about 420. The problem was unsolved when he wrote the
Retractationes (I, c. i) about 427. Finally, in his last
work Opus imperfectum contra Julianum written some-
time during 430, he acknowledges his inability to arrive
at a decision in this matter.

233 De An. et ejus Origine, III, c. vii.

234 Ep. CLXVI, c. ix; De Civ. Dei XII, c. xxvi.

235 Ecclus. XVIII, 1.

236 De Civ. Dei, XII, c. xxiii.

237 De Gen. ad Litt. VII, 24, X, 2.

238 De Gen. ad Litt. VII, 25-27. (A complete statement of this en-
tire problem is to be found in De Gen. ad Litt. VI, VII, 24-28; X.)

THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN SOUL 71

As in the preceding discussion he entertained no doubt
about the ultimate origin of these souls — he believed that
they are created by God,239 but he hesitated to embrace
any definite opinion concerning their proximate origin.
Four theories present themselves to his mind as possible
solutions of this question: (1) each soul may be produced
by a special creative act of God at the time of its union
with the body; (2) all souls being created apart from J
their bodies are either infused into them by God, (3) or
enter them by some inherent, natural force; (4) each
soul may be derived from the first soul through the gen-
erative act of the parents.240 These four theories are
reducible to two which are generally designated Creation-
ism and Traducianism. The ablest advocate of Creation-
ism in the time of Augustine was the eminent biblical
scholar, St. Jerome. He supported the view that every
soul that comes into being is produced by a special crea-
tive act of God. Augustine wrote a letter about the year
415 in which he gives a complete statement of the Crea-
tionist theory as he understood it. (Ep. CLXVI.) This
letter was forwarded to Jerome, who at the time resided
near Bethlehem, but he never answered it. Upon the
death of the latter, Augustine published the letter as an
apology for his hesitancy in pronouncing in favor of
any one of the four theories. As regards the opinion held
by Jerome, he writes that he is willing to adopt it if he
can be convinced that it is true and in perfect harmony
with all the teachings of the Church.241 There are some
objections proposed by others against this view in which
he sees no difficulty, but he has his own objections which
he is unable to solve.242 The one unanswerable and out-
standing difficulty in this manner of accounting for the
origin of the souls of the descendants of the first man,
according to his way of thinking, is this, how is this
theory of special creation reconcilable with the doctrine

239 De Gen. ad; Litt. X, 3.

240 De Lib. Arb. Ill, c. xxi, 59; De Gen. ad Litt. X; Epistolae
CXLIII, CLXVI, c. iii; De An. et ejus Origine, I— IV.

241 Ep. CLXVI, c. viii.

242 Ibid. c. v.

72 THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN SOUL

of the Church on original sin; how does it explain the
transmission of original sin and at the same time save
the goodness and justice of God?243 If the soul of an
infant is created at the time of its union with the body,
how does he inherit Adam's sin so that he requires the
redemption of Christ? 244 In the event that one replies
that the sin is contracted by the mere fact that the soul
is united to bodily members which are derived from an-
other, how is it compatible with Divine Justice that the
infant be condemned to eternal punishment in case he
should die without baptism, since it does not lie within
his power to procure this Sacrament by his own ef-
forts ? 245 If this opinion is the correct one, how are we
to account for the penal sufferings of this life which
children undergo without any evil of their own as the
cause?246 Finally, if one accepts this theory how does
he explain the great diversity of talents in different souls,
and how does he explain the unfortunate condition of
those who come into the world absolutely devoid of
reason?247 Augustine had hoped that Jerome would be
able to answer these objections in a satisfactory manner,
but since his communication remained unanswered, he
always hesitated to adopt the Special Creation theory.
He found himself face to face with the same difficulties
when he examined the other two Creationist explanations,
namely, that souls already existing elsewhere are infused
into bodies by God, or find their way to union with bodies
through some natural process.248 If one is inclined to
favor either one of the latter two opinions he must guard
against preexistence as understood by the Platonists.249
The remaining plausible explanation is Traducianism.
In general Traducianism maintains that the soul of man
is transmitted to the offspring in the generative act of
the parents. When this term is employed in a specific

243 Ep. CLXVI, c. iii-iv.

244 Ibid.

245 Ibid.

246 Ibid, c. vi.

247 Ibid. vi.

248 Ep. CLXVI, c. ix ; Ep. CXLHI, 9 ; De Gen. ad Litt. VII, 24-26.

249 Ep. CLXVI, c. ix; Ep. CLXIV, c. vii.

THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN SOUL 73

! '' ';

sense it implies that the soul is propagated by means of
a material germ. This is sometimes referred to as Cor-
poreal or Materialistic Traducianism. This theory which
was defended by Tertullian was absolutely condemned by
our author as militating against the incorporeal nature
of the human soul, admoneo sane, quantum ualleam, si
quos ista praeoccupauit opinio, ut animas credant ex
parentibus propagari, quantum possunt se ipsos con-
siderent et interim sapiant corpora non esse animas
suas.250 The other aspect of Traducianism which holds
that subsequent souls descend from the soul of the first
man through the parents, is frequently designated Gen-
erationism.251 While Augustine's whole attitude towards
the problem of the origin of the soul of the descendants
of the first man was one of doubt and hesitancy, he seems
to have been inclined to favor the theory of Generation-
ism. The principal reasons he assigns for viewing this
opinion with greater favor than the rest are these: it
explains the transmission of original sin, (Si una anima
facta est, ex qua omnium hominum animae trahuntur
nascentium, quis potest dicere non se pecasse, cum primus
ille peccabit?) ; 252 it safeguards the goodness and the
justice of God by furnishing an adequate cause for the
penal sufferings of infants both here and hereafter ; 253
finally, this explanation seems to be more consonant with
the teachings of the orthodox faith than the others.254
In giving his preference to Generationism Augustine does
not overlook the fact that this theory presents a special
difficulty insofar as the soul of Jesus Christ is concerned.
If one adopts this theory he must hold either that the
soul of Christ, by way of exception, was not derived in
the same manner as are the souls of other human beings,
but came into existence through an act of special crea-
tion ; or if it was derived in the same way as the souls of

250 De Gen. ad Litt. X, 24.

251 Cf . Cath. Ency. vol. XV, p. 14, art : Traducianism, C. A. Dubray.

252 De Lib. Arb. Ill, c. xx.

253 Ep. CLXVI, c. iv, vi.

254 Ep. CXC, c. i, vi ; Ep. CCII, bis, c. vi.

74 THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN SOUL

other men, one must believe that when He assumed it,
He so purified it that He came into the world sinless.255
The question concerning the origin of the souls of the
descendants of the first man, as was remarked at the
outset of this discussion, caused Augustine considerable
trouble and anxiety over a long period of years, and
although he pursued his investigations with an admirable
and praiseworthy tenacity of purpose, he was never able
to decide definitely in favor of any one theory to the ex-
clusion of the rest. Whenever he refers to this problem
he is always careful to to warn his readers of his own
hesitancy in adopting any particular theory. A single
reference taken from Epistola CXC which was written
about the year 418 covers this point in all the works pub-
lished previous to that time : De qua re antequam aliquid
admoneam sinceritatem tuam, scire te uolo in tarn multis
opusculis meis numquam me fuisse ausum de hac quaes-
tione definitam proferre sententiam et inpudenter referre
in litteras ad olios informandos, quod apud me non fuerit
explicatum. (2) When his indecision was made the ob-
ject of attack by those who tried to force him to commit
himself to a definite view, he calmly informed them that
if they could produce unquestionable evidence in support
of any one of these theories from the Canonical Books of
Scripture, or if they could adduce valid arguments
founded upon evidently true premises, he was ready and
even anxious to embrace an opinion so well established.
If on the contrary, no such evidence or argumentation
can be produced, he feels perfectly justified in maintain-
ing a non-committal attitude of mind.256 Although he
sought untiringly in his own splendid intellect and in
both past and contemporary philosophy and theology for
some solution of this problem which would harmonize
with the orthodox doctrine of original sin, he was forced
to acknowledge in the end of his days that so far as he
is concerned the origin of the soul of the descendants of

255 Ep. CLXIV, c. vii.

256 Ep. CXLIII, 11.

THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN SOUL 75

the first man is a profound mystery.257 One cannot re-
frain from expressing his admiration at the high quality
of a mind that could frankly confess that he did not know
how to solve this difficulty, and furthermore was not
ashamed to admit that he did not know.258 This honest
and open recognition of his intellectual limitations tends
only to bring out in clearer perspective the rare quality
of Augustine's genius. The great care and sustained
effort devoted to this problem, combined with that critical
attitude of mind so indispensable in the searcher after
truth, manifest to us how deservedly Augustine merits
the title of "Philosopher," and lends an added sanction
to the unanimous verdict of the ages which ranks him
among the few really great thinkers of all times.

Saint Augustine fixed the Christian concept of the
human soul and contributed largely to its development.
He collected and condensed the principal ideas and argu-
ments which he found in Pagan philosophy, and inter-
preted and developed these in the light of the teachings
of Christianity. Profound philosopher and able psychol-
ogist though he was, his primary interest in problems
touching the human soul was neither philosophical nor
psychological, but rather theological in character. Jesus
Christ had directed attention to the mutual relations that
exist between God and man, and it was ever with these
relations uppermost in his mind that Saint Augustine
studied the human soul.

His most noteworthy contribution to the Christian
philosophy of the human soul was his development of the
proofs for spirituality. He was probably the first Chris-
tian thinker to understand clearly the distinction be-
tween matter and spirit, body and substance. He stands

257 Opus Imperfectum contra Julianum II, c. LXVIII.

258 Quapropter dico etiam ego de anima mea : nescio, quomodo
uenerit in corpus meum — neque enim ego illam mihi donaui — ; scit ille
qui donauit, utrum illam de patre meo traxerit an sicut homini primo
nouam crauerit. sciam etiam ego, si ipse docuerit, quandocumque
uoluerit ; nunc autem nescio nee me pudet ut istum fateri nescire quod
nescio. De An. et ejus Origine, I, xv, 25.

76 THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN SOUL

out conspicuously among the philosophers of his time as
the fearless and uncompromising champion of the doc-
trine that the soul of man is not a body but a simple,
spiritual substance. The arguments which he advanced
to maintain his position constitute a permanent bulwark
of defense against the ever-recurring attacks of mate-
rialism. His appeal to the authority of consciousness in
the elaboration of this doctrine, and his insistence on
the scientific value of the data obtainable by introspection,
has merited for him an estimable place among those who
have aided in the advance of psychological method. The
philosophical doctrine of spirituality outlined by the
Bishop of Hippo is the equal of any which has been at-
tempted since his day, and, perhaps, it is not an exag-
geration to say, that so far as this aspect of Christian
philosophy is concerned he was the richest contributor
in the long history of Christian thought.

As regards the doctrine of immortality, he was evi-
dently under the influence of Plato when he proposed the
so-called metaphysical proofs of the soul's immortality at
the beginning of his Christian career. His development
of the argument based on the universal desire for being
and immortality however, was his own, and as a distinct
contribution to this doctrine must not be overlooked.

His protracted investigation of the question concerning
the origin of the human soul resulted in his arriving at
a clearer and better understanding of the soul's nature.
While he never pronounced in favor of any one particular
theory of origin to the exclusion of the rest, he seems
to have been inclined to favor Generationism as the theory
best adapted to his defense of the orthodox doctrine of
original sin against the Pelagians. As is well known,
this theory has long since been supplanted in Christian
philosophical and theological circles by the Special Crea-
tion theory as advocated by Saint Jerome in Augustine's
day and many centuries later by Saint Thomas Aquinas.

A knowledge of the Concept of the human soul as
developed by Saint Augustine is indispensable to the
proper understanding of the whole trend of psychological

THE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN SOUL 77

thought from his day down to and including the thirteenth
century. Every Christian thinker worthy of note who
appeared during this period was more or less under the
influence of the great Patristic philosopher. Albertus
Magnus and Saint Thomas Aquinas, who graced the
Golden Age of Scholasticism, were undoubtedly more
directly and powerfully dominated by the philosophy of
Aristotle, but they were also influenced in no inconsid-
erable degree by Saint Augustine. The Angelic Doctor
not only appeals frequently to the authority of the
African Bishop, but also repeats many of the arguments
which had been formulated by him. In the hands of this
Master Scholastic of the thirteenth century the Christian
concept of the human soul was perfected and woven into
that "perennial philosophy" which has been the rich
heritage of subsequent centuries.

78 GENERAL WORKS

*•*' -'.

GENERAL WORKS.
PATROLOGIES.

ALZOG, Patrologie, trans. French, Belet, p. 504-557, Paris,

1877.
BARDENHEWER, 0., Patrologie, p. 416-477, 2 ed. Freiburg

im Breisgau, 1901 ; trans. English, by Thomas Sha-

han, p. 473-508, Freiburg im Breisgau and St. Louis,

Mo., 1908.

FARRAR, Lives of the Fathers II, p. 298-460, London, 1889.
FESSLER-JUNGMANN, Institutiones patrologiae II, p. 250-

404, Innsbruck, 1890-1896.
SCHAFF, PH., Select Library of the Nicene and Post-

Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church (Sec. I),

vol. VII, New York, 1902.
SCHMID, B., Manual of Patrology, trans. 4 ed. St. Louis,

Mo., 1917 (p. 243-257).
TIXERONT, J., A Handbook of Patrology, trans. 4 ed. p.

259-261, St. Louis, Mo., 1920.

DICTIONARIES.

VACANT ET MANGENOT, Dictionnaire de Theologie Catho-

lique, t. I, 2, col. 2268-2561.
WETZER UND WELTE, Kirchenlexikon, t. I, col. 1669-1678,

2 ed. Freiburg im Breisgau, 1882-1903.
BALDWIN, J. M., Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology,

New York and London, 1901-1905.
Dictionnaire des Sciences Philosophiques, I, p. 249, Paris,

1844.
EISLER, R., Worterbuch der Philosophischen Begriffe,

Berlin, 1910.
SCHAFF, P., Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, t. I,

p. 173, Edinburgh, 1883.
HASTINGS, J., Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, vol.

IX, 1917; vol. X, 1919, New York.
Catholic Encyclopedia, New York.

GENERAL WORKS 79

PAULYS, Real-Encyclopaedic der Classischen Altertum-
swissensschaft. vol. II, col. 2263-2367, Stuttgart,
1896.

HISTORIES.

DUSCHESNE, L., Historie ancienne de I'eglise, Paris, 1908,
trans. 4 ed. New York, 1912-1915.

ROBERTSON, J. C., History of the Christian Church, Lon-
don, 1875-1907.

RAINY, R., The Ancient Catholic Church, Edinburgh,
1902.

LECLERQ, H., L'Afrique Chretienne, 2 ed. Paris, 1904.

MILMAN, H. H., History of Latin Christianity, vol. I,
London, 1854.

HISTORIES OF PHILOSOPHY.

BENN, A. W., History of Ancient Philosophy, New York,

1912.
BLAKEY, R., History of the Philosophy of Mind, London,

1850.
BRUCKER, J., Historia Critica philosophiae, t. Ill, p. 485-

507, Lipsiae, 1766.
DEWULF-COFFEY, History of Medieval Philosophy, 3 ed.

New York, 1909.

ENFIELD, W., History of Philosophy, London, 1819.
ERDMANN, J. E., History of Philosophy, trans. 3 ed. by

W. S. Hough, London and New York, 1890.
GONZALEZ-PASCAL, Histoire de la Philosophic, Paris,

1890.
JANET ET SEAILLES, Histoire de la Philosophie, Paris,

1887.
RITTER, H., Geschichte der Christlichen Philosophie,

French trans, by Trullard, II, Paris, 1843.
SCHUYLER, A., A Critical History of Philosophical Theo-
ries, Boston, 1913.
STOECKL, A., Geschichte der Christlichen Philosophie, zur

Zeit der Kirchenvater, Mainz, 1891.

80 GENERAL WORKS

Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophic, Mainz, 1911.

TURNER, W., History of Philosophy, Boston, 1903.

UEBERWEG-HEINZE, Grundriss der Geschichte der Philo-
sophic, 9 ed. Berlin, 1905.

WEBER, A., History of Philosophy, trans, by Thilly, New
York, 1896.

WINDELBAND, W., History of Ancient Philosophy, trans,
by H. Cushman, New York, 1899.

BIOGRAPHIES.

Acta Sanctorum, t. VI, p. 213-460, Paris, 1866.

LES BOLLANDISTES, Vies des Saints, Paris, 1888.

WEISKOTTEN, H. T., Sancti Augustini vita scripta a Pos-
sidio episcopo, edited with revised text, introduction,
notes and an English version, Princeton University
Press, 1919.

BOHRINGER, F. & P., Aurelius Augustinus Bischof von
Hippo, Stuttgart, 1877-1878.

POUJOULAT, Histoire de St. Augustin, sa vie, ses ouvres,
son siecle, influence de son genie, 7 ed. Paris, 1886.

WOLFSGRUBER, C., Augustinus, Paderborn, 1898.

MARTIN, J., St. Augustin, Paris, 1901.

BERTRAND, L., S. Augustin, Paris, 1913.

NAVILLE, H. A., St. Augustin, Geneva, 1872.

WORTER, F., Die Geistentwicklung des hi. Aurelius Au-
gustinus bis zu seiner Taufe, Paderborn, 1892.

FLOTTES, Etudes sur St. Augustin, son genie, son ame, sa
philosophie, Montpellier, 1861.

HATZFELD, A., St. Augustin, 6 ed. Paris, 1901.

CUNNINGHAM, W., St. Austin and his place in the history
of Christian thought, London, 1886.

McCABE, J., Saint Augustine and his Age, London, 1902.

BINDEMANN, C., Der heilige Augustinus, vol. 1, Berlin,
1844; vol. 2, Leipsig, 1856; vol. 3, .Greifswald, 1869.

MORIARTY, P., The Life of St. Augustine, Bishop, Con-
fessor and Doctor of the Church, Philadelphia, 1873.

NEWMANN, J. CARD., Historical Sketches, vol. 2, New
York, 1906.

GENERAL WORKS 81

SPECIAL WORKS.

GIBB, J., and MONTGOMERY, W., The Confessions of
Augustine, Cambridge University Press, 1908.

DOMBART, B., Sancti Aureli Augustini Episcopi De Civi-
tate Dei, libri XXII, tertium recognovit, Leipsig,
1905.

CUNNINGHAM, J. C., Letters of Saint Augustine, Edin-
burgh, 1872.

DODS, MARCUS, On the Trinity, Edinburgh, 1873.
The City of God, 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1872.

WATTS, WILLIAM, St. Augustine's Confessions, 1631, The
Loeb Classical Library, 1912.

MISCELLANEOUS WORKS.

HEWITT, A. F., Problems of the Age with studies in St.

Augustine, New York, 1868.
GRANDGEORGE, L., Saint Augustin et le neoplatonisme,

Paris, 1896.

WINDLE, B., The Church and Science, London, 1917.
MERCIER, D., Cours de Philosophic, Louvain, 1892.

A Manual of Modern Scholastic Philosophy, trans, T.

L. and S. A. Parker, London, 1916.
The Origins of Contemporary Psychology, trans. W. H.

Michell, New York, 1918.
NOURRISSON, J. F., La Philosophic de Saint Augustin,

Paris, 1865.

ALLIES, M. H., Leaves from St. Augustine, London, 1886.
OSMUN, G. W., Augustine: the thinker, Cincinnati and

New York, 1906.
MONTGOMERY, W., St. Augustine, Aspects of his life and

thought, New York, 1914.
MARTIN, L., La doctrine spirituelle de St. Augustin, Paris,

1901.
FERRAZ, M., De la psychologic de Saint Augustin, Paris,

1862.

82 GENERAL WORKS

WERNER, K., Die Augustinische psychologic in ihrer mit-

telalterlich scholastischen Einkleidung und Gestal-

tung, Vienna, 1882.

FECHNER, G. T., Ueber die Seelenfrage, Leipsig, 1861.
VON SCHUBERT, G. H., Die Geschichte der Seele, 5 ed.

Stuttgart, 1877.

RODIER, G., Aristote Traite de L'ame, Paris, 1900.
PIAT, C., La Personne Humaine, Paris, 1897.
DRISCOLL, J. T., A Treatise on the Human Soul, New

York, 1898.

COSTE, A., Dieu et Uame, 12 ed.. Paris, 1903.
COCONNIER, Uame humaine, Paris, 1890.
FAROE, Le cerveau, I'ame et les facultes, Paris, 1888.
MCDOUGALL, W., Body and Mind, London, 1911.
RAND, B., The Classical Psychologists, Boston, 1912.
RHODE, E., Psyche, Leipsig, 1906.
SIEBECK, H., Geschichte der Psychologic, Gotha, 1884.
DUBRAY, C. A., Introductory Philosophy, New York, 1913.
HICKEY, J., Summula Philosophiae Scholasticae, 4 ed.

Dublin, 1915.

JAMES, WILLIAM, Psychology, New York, 1892.
PERRIER, J., The Revival of Scholastic Philosophy in the

Nineteenth Century, New York, 1909.
DEWULF, M., Scholasticism Old and New, trans. P. Cof-

fey, Dublin, 1910.

SHALLO, M., Scholastic Philosophy, Philadelphia, 1915.
BROWNSON, H. F., The Works of Orestes, A. Brownson,

vol. I, Detroit, 1882.
THOMAS AQUINAS,

Summa Theologica, Prima Pars.

Quaestiones Disputatae.

Commentaria in Tres libros Aristotelis De Anima.

Summa Contra Gentiles.

ADDITIONAL WORKS OF AUGUSTINE
CONSULTED.

De Vera Religione (De Vera Rel.).

De Praedestinatione Sanctorum (De Praed. Sanct.).

GENERAL WORKS 83

De Agone Christiana.

De Genesi contra Manichaeos (De Gen. contra Manich.).

De Genesi ad Litteram imperfectus liber (De Gen. ad

Litt. imper liber) .
De Beata Vita.

De Moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae (De Mor. Eccl. Cath.).
De Duabus Animabus contra Manichaeos (De Duab.

Anim. contra Manich.).
De Actis cum Felice Manichaeo (De Actis cum Fel.

Manich.).
Ad Orosium contra Priscillianistas et Origenistas.

84 VITA

VITA.

William Patrick O'Connor was born in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, on October 18, 1886. His elementary training
was received in St. John's Cathedral School of his native
city. He studied the Classics, Philosophy, and Theology
at St. Francis Seminary near Milwaukee. He was or-
dained to the priesthood on March 11, 1912, and assigned
as Assistant to the Pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church,
Milwaukee. In the year 1915, he attended Marquette
University, Milwaukee, where he studied Rational Psy-
chology under the direction of Dr. G. Deglmann, S. J.
He received the A. B. degree in June, 1916. The follow-
ing September he entered the Catholic University of
America where he followed courses in Metaphysics and
History of Philosophy under Dr. W. Turner, General,
Experimental and Abnormal Psychology under Dr. T. V.
Moore, C. S. P., and Biology (Animal and Plant), under
Dr. J. Parker. On June 29, 1917, he was commissioned
First Lieutenant in the Wisconsin National Guard, and
on August 3 of the same year he was assigned as Chap-
lain to the First Regiment, Wisconsin Cavalry. When
this organization became the 120th Field Artillery of the
57th Brigade, Thirty-second Division, he was reassigned
as Chaplain. He served with this organization in Amer-
ica, England, and France, participating in four major
operations of the French and American Armies. On
November 19, 1918, he was advanced to the position of
Senior Chaplain, Thirty-second Division, A. E. F., with
the Army of Occupation in Germany. In March, 1919,
he was promoted to the rank of Captain, Chaplain Corps,
A. E. F. On the mustering out of the Thirty-second
Division, he resigned his commission and returned to
Milwaukee, where he spent the following three months
as Assistant to the Pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church.
In September of the same year he reentered the Catholic
University of America, following courses in Philosophy
of Mind, Social Psychology, Philosophy -of Evolution,

VITA 85

and Genetic Psychology under Dr. E. A. Pace, and
Philosophy of Saint Thomas under Dr. H. I. Smith, 0. P.
He is particularly indebted to Dr. E. A. Pace and Dr.
J. Fox for valuable assistance rendered in the prepara-
tion and execution of this dissertation.

c*

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iwAL INSTITUTE OF MEDIAEVAL SlUUitS
59 QUEEN'S PARK CRESCENT
TORCNTO— 5, CANADA

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